INTRODUCTION: Why Blog?
- The changing blogging landscap
- Who blogs and how
- Blogs can be about almost anythin
- Why expertise matter
- Why audience matters
CHAPTER 1: Anatomy of a Blog Post
- Finding a blog-worthy idea
- Gathering information (with links!)
- Writing a draft
- Rewriting, tweaking and other improvements
- Headlines, visuals, summaries
- Making the text look inviting
- Links and more links
- Telling the world about your post
- Chapter comments (linked to website)
CHAPTER 2: Two Models: Reporter Blogger vs. Op-ed Blogger
- What kind of journalist do you want to be?
- How to blog effectively
- The basics of writing and reporting a news blog (being a reporter, organizing and writing your reporter blog post, the lede, the body)
- Blogging your opinions
- Tips for writing a strong opinion blog post
- Reflective assignment & exercise
- Chapter comments (linked to website)
CHAPTER 3: Getting Started
- Choosing a blog topic (why a niche matters)
- Naming your blog
- Checking out the competition
- Where to get ideas, find resources to tap regularly (social media, hub blog communities, finding experts)
- Establishing a focus (carrowing your topic, writing a focus statement, outlining to help organize, looking ahead instead of behind
- Finding and using links (getting to the original source, giving varied views)
- Building an audience (the importance of regular posts, varying your pace, keeping a reserve file, pushing out, Rome wasn't built in a day: Be patient)
- Chapter comments (linked to website)
CHAPTER 4: Blogging as rap
- The pleasure of playing with words
- Let's get loose: Stretching exercises
- Hearing the written word (varying cadence and pace, alliteration, sibilance and all that linguistic rhythm, reading your work out loud)
- Small scenes can deliver big stories
- How to find your voice (the right tone for your subject; different blogs, different voices; how the pros establish a voice)
- Chapter comments (linked to website)
CHAPTER 5: Striking up a Conversation
- Giving your readers their say
- When to engage those who comment - and how
- Dealing with spammers, bots and other headaches
- Chapter comments (linked to website)
CHAPTER 6: Why Headlines Matter
- Two seconds and they're gone
- Clear and direct trumps clever
- Why keywords count
- The elements of good headlines (specificity, S-V-O, watch for multiple meanings, look forward, tell it with a twist, bad breaks, on deck [how second decks supply more news])
- Chapter breaks carry the reader forward
- Chapter comments (linked to website)
CHAPTER 7: Beyond Words
- Words aren't always best: Choosing the right medium
- Picturebook: Telling a story with a photo blog (one picture can be an entire story, words and cutlines working together, slideshows)
- I am a radio station: Podcasts (choosing a recording device, natural sound, sound and the imagination)
- Some of this, some of that: tumbleblogs (how media can complement one another, each element is its own story, choosing the right media)
- TV Reality: Video blogs
- Chapter comments (linked to website)
CHAPTER 8: Making Universal Connections with Stories of Everyday Life
- Inventorying your own life
- Thinking small
- The power of universal connections
- Be a character in your own story
- A little humor can go a long way
- Chapter comments (linked to website)
CHAPTER 9: On the Road Again: The Travel Blog
- Gathering string (connections can take time to sort)
- Using the senses to take readers with you
- Write about a place through its people
- Don't be breezy, be specific
- Using dialogue to tell story
- Simple stories work best
- Take lots of pictures: People like to see things
- Chapter comments (linked to website)
CHAPTER 10: Blogging about Politics and Journalism
- Read a lot and mix up your reading
- Find a place to stand
- Build a single, strong argument
- How to structure an argument
- Show your readers where your facts came from
- Be a voice, not an echo
- Chapter comments (linked to website)
CHAPTER 11: Consider This: Advice and Reviews
- Remember the three S rule: Be succinct, simple and sincere
- This is your show: Don't be afraid to offer an opinion
- Do base that opinion on facts
- Incorporate other experts and (once again) link like crazy
- Mix advice and demonstration
- Build your own club
- Chapter comments (linked to website)
CHAPTER 12: Building your blogging brand
- Picking a name that resonates
- Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and who knows what's next
- Johnny Blogseed: Wherever you go, spread your blog
- You're not just a blog, you're a person
- From pixels to ink: Getting your posts published in old media
- Chapter comments (linked to website)
CHAPTER 13: Looking ahead
- Going mobile
- New tools for bloggers - and followers
- Growing by collaborating
- Subscription blogs
- The supremacy of quality
- Chapter comments (linked to website)
APPENDICES: Two bloggers & their work
