Well, I’ll be a monkey’s unc….er aunt!

Registration is open at LVSOnline until January 6, 2010. We offer two blogging classes, Blogging Basics with WordPress andBlogging for Fun, Fame and Fortune.

“WordPress is an incredibly powerful and free blogging platform that makes creating a basic blog fun and easy to create. But did you know that you can also use WordPress to power a fully functional web site? WordPress allows you to create pages, galleries, shopping carts and more, all in addition to its blog features. There are two ways of utilizing WordPress. The first is to let WordPress host your own blog for you at wordpress.com. The second way is to use WordPress’ free software on your web site. That gives you more flexibility, power and options but it does require some basic technical skills. WordPress is a great tool but blogging isn’t just about tools.

Blogs are a great way to keep up to date with friends, family, your hobbies, your interests and your business concerns. Blogs can be easier to set up and maintain then most other web sites, making them accessible to many more people. The other thing that makes blogs different is how they encourage and facilitate a dialog between you and your readers. Now you can have a voice on the web.

This course will teach you the art and science of basic blogging. You will learn:

• what are blogs and how they differ from other web sites
• how to define your blog topic -Hint it needs to be one of your passions!
• how to use the FREE WordPress platform to install and manage your blog
• how to modify WordPress so it fits your work style
• how to find blogging ideas
• how to start conversations on your blog
• the relationship between blogs and social networking
• how to modify your blog with basic themes and widgets
• how to set up WordPress on your own web site
• the pros and cons of having WordPress hosting your site versus hosting it yourself
• how to include photos, video and sound on your blog
• which plug-ins are important in a self hosted blog”

“Blogging is taking the world by storm! The heart of its power lies in its immediacy of publishing information, the ease of setting up and maintaining a blog and its interaction with its users. Blogs are used for everything from private family updates to journals to product reviews to photo journals to political podiums. As well as being a satisfying outlet on a personal level, blogs can be a powerful communication tool. Businesses, from freelancers to large corporations like Boeing, are using blogs to promote their products/services, gain and maintain customer loyalty, obtain customer feedback, and communicate news to their customers. In addition to business, blogs are a very effective means of communicating about social, health, technology, political and art issues.

During this course, you will learn about the art and science of blogging. We will use the popular and FREE WordPress software to install and administer our blog. We will cover how to write engaging titles and blog posts, how to use blog directories, how to build authority in the blogging world and how to share your blog with others. We will focus on the interactive nature of blogging and how to increase participation on your blog without a lot of spam. There is so much happening in the world of blogging and blogging promotion, that it is hard to cover it all in six weeks. With this in mind, the course will vary slightly each session to allow us to devote more time to study and put into practice different blog elements. The purpose is twofold. First, blogging is all about community. This course is designed to create, nurture and support a community of LVS Bloggers. You can take this course once for the content or you can take it multiple times as a means of “continuing education” and networking. The second purpose is to provide dynamic and up to date information about blogging.

Although there is a base curriculum for this course, each session the students will help select some of the topics covered. Participation and practice will be the focus of this class. Part of the student’s learning process will include assisting other students via feedback and input.

Not all blogs will gain you fame and fortune but they all can be fun! For those blog topics that are conducive to it, we will also cover revenue streams like tip jars, affiliates, advertisements and sponsorships. Some bloggers, like Dooce, SimpleBits and Lockergnome, have turned their blogs into fulltime businesses.”

I hope you’ll join us, we have a lot of fun and you will learn lots! 🙂