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Scoop Blog Network Blogger Bootcamp

Cohere Community
Fort Collins, CO

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Scoop Blog Network Blogger Bootcamp

Saturday, April 5th 9:00-5:30pm
Sunday, April 6th 9:00-4:30pm

At Cohere Community
$275 registration fee

Please bring:
Laptops/ipad/phone
Have all accounts downloaded
Complete your pre-attendance questionnaire after registration

Coffee, water, and snacks will be provided. You will be responsible for your own lunch -either at the office or nearby restaurant.

Join us at The Scoop Blog Network's Blogger Boot Camp for a two-day seminar taught by our network bloggers that will teach you everything about professional blogging:

1.Technical set ups and using content management systems, like Wordpress
2.Content organization, writing development, and tapping into your creativity
3.Social media tech tools, how-to's, and community building
4.Marketing, monetization, and blog business development
5.Self-care, work balance, and avoiding blog burnout

Saturday, Aril 5th
9:30-10:30am

Skippy Smith Ask Us Fort Collins

WordPress: The Back End

The back end is the part of WordPress that only you will see. It's where all of the technical configuration happens. It's also the part of your blog you want to spend the least amount of time dealing with. If you do it right your life will be easy. If you do it wrong the first time around you'll have to do it right the second time. Or even worse there may not be a second time. Hackers and crashes and broken blogs, oh my!

In this session you will learn:

Initial configuration of WordPress
Criteria for selecting a theme.
Criteria for selecting plugins.
Uploading photographs and graphics.
Securing your WordPress site against hackers.
Backing up your site.

Session run time: 1 hour

10:45-11:45

WordPress: The Front End

The front end of your website is the part your visitors will see. This is the fun stuff. It's where your content is displayed and organized. More importantly it's the whole look and feel of your blog. It's how the visitor experiences and navigates your blog. If your visitors have a bad experience at your site they may never come back.

In this session you will learn:

strategies for planning the layout, organization and navigation of your blog including:

Menu structure and site navigation.
The importance of "above the fold" and effective use of space.
Effective use of categories.
How to plan the layout of your site.
Putting yourself in the place of the reader.
Rules of the road/web, when to follow them and when to break them.

Session run time: 1 hour

LUNCH 12:00-1:15

1:30-2:30pm

Kristin Mastre, Feasting Fort Collins, Budding Fort Collins

Creating Content Worth Reading and Sharing

There are the essential skills that every professional blogger will need to be successful, the skills you won't be able to outsource to others - it's all on you! We'll teach you the core structure of blogging and how to do it right.

In this session you will learn:

How to create an editorial schedule and stick to it
How to maintain streamlined topics that fit with your blogging goals
The importance of a blogging strategy

Session run time: 1 hour

2:45-3:45pm

Katrina Pfannkuch, Tails of Fort Collins

Feeding Creativity and Overcoming Writer's Block

As bloggers, coming up with fresh, interesting content is the key to growing blog traffic and creating active online conversations. The pace of managing a blog can be demanding on your creativity, especially if you are writing multiple posts per week paired with social media outreach. So when you hit a brick wall and writer's block is putting your blog on hold, you have two choices -- give up or power through. What is your choice going to be?

In this session you will learn:

How to identify what writer's block looks like for you
Ways to kick-start your creative fire when it goes dormant
How to keep the firey creative momentum going each week
Tips to inspire you when the ideas have dried up
Common traps that lead to writer's block

Session run time: 1 hour

4:00-5:00pm

June Macon, Growing Up Fort Collins

Social Sharing and Community Building

You can simply build a blog and hope people find you, but it's most likely you'll have a digital diary on your hands than a flourishing resource for readers. With great content, search engine optimization, and outreach, you can start your journey to building up readership and reaching goals, one milestone at a time.

In this session you will learn:

Why outreach is important
How Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, and Foursquare differ
How to identify which social media outlets can help you reach your goals
How to be a great community manager
Tips on how to build a community

***

Sunday, April 6th

9:00 -11:00am

June Macon, Growing Up Fort Collins

Tech, Tools, and How To's

The use of social media for business and blogging is very different than using it for leisure. It takes a lot of time and effort to build community and to engage with your readership. Luckily, there are tools we can use to help make life easier. Whether it's a good app on your phone so you can respond on the go or a management tool to help you respond easier, tools used properly help bloggers connect with their community.

This session will cover:

Helpful management tools and apps
Best practices on social media outlets (optimization, images, content)
Why analytics are important for bloggers

Session run time: 2 hours

11:15-12:15

Kristin Mastre, Feasting Fort Collins and Budding Fort Collins

Blog Marketing 101

Successful professional bloggers are essentially social media managers who can write well. But, you also need to know how to leverage other marketing opportunities to get the word out about your writing in the community.

This session will cover:

Writing the content that sells you as a blogger
How to properly network within the community
Putting the "social" back in social media
Partnering with non-profits for beneficial relationship building

Session run time: 1 hour

LUNCH 12:30-1:30

1:45-2:45

Kristin Mastre, Feasting Fort Collins and Budding Fort Collins

How to make money from your blog really.

There are two sides to a blogger's brain the creative side that loves to write, and the business side that makes you money. Most bloggers don't have the business development skills to turn a profit from their writing efforts.until now!

This session will cover:

Understanding your traffic stats in Google Analytics
Press Kit development
Sales pitches for advertising
How to think like a business owner/entrepreneur
Various forms of income ebooks, events, and more

Session run time: 1 hour

3:00-4:30

Katrina Pfannkuch, Tails of Fort Collins

Self Care and Overcoming Burnout

Between multitasking family, work responsibilities and personal care, one usually loses. Sadly, self-care is often the first to go, yet without it, you are headed straight to burn-out city. There is a way to bring yourself back into balance, it just requires being a bit more mindful with your everyday life choices.

This session will cover:

Building a more creatively supportive work schedule
Understanding what your body is trying to tell you throughout the day
Knowing when you are close to burn-out and how to work around it
Finding simple, easy ways to support yourself
Tips for getting re-inspired instead of giving up and walking away

Session run time: 1 hour 45 minutes