Your mission, week nine

Assignment: Add one or more of the following: Google AdSense, a widget, blogroll, a "best of" panel or labels. Monitor statistics, especially referrals, from last week's community outreach, then report on your findings. Feedback: (Mike) Q&A, tech troubleshooting

Your mission, week eight

Surf the web and find at least five blogs new to you. Leave a comment on each and also respond to all feedback on your site. Make at least two posts, one with an image, the other with a video
Feedback: (Amanda) holistic critique

Your mission, week seven

Assignment: either a longer post (500 words) or three thematically linked entries (no more than 600 words total). Mawkish praise for the following:

• Three sources – the ole newspaper minimum
• Quotes, which can be drawn from documents or, preferably, interviews.
• Pro and con perspectives, which add balance
• Links and expert opinions.
• Dialogue, plot, imagery, nut grafs and envelope endings

This week, especially, I encourage you to offer your peers feedback. Different eyes spot different strengths and concerns ... and the critiquer has much to learn from the process. WIN for all!

Please post your links on the class forum, as usual.

Feedback: (Amanda) writing line-critique

Your mission, week six

Burn your feed, add a subscription/email subscription widget to your blog, claim your blog on Technorati Feedback: (Mike) Q&A, tech troubleshooting

Assignment week five

Incorporate at least three sources – quotes, memes or multimedia – to add texture to your blog. Bonus points for original audio or video uploads!

Feedback: (Amanda) writing line-critique

Your mission, week four

Add Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools – see Mike's tips here and here –  and make two posts. This task is by no means mandatory. Tackle it, should the idea appeal. Skip it if code-hacking doesn't... Either way, please leave Mike tech questions in Forums>Assignments>Stats and two posts.

Your mission, week three

Three posts – one 25 words, another 100 words, the last 350. Yes, you need to stick to the word limits (see below for advice on this front).

Please post the permalinks on the class site under Forums>Assignments>Three posts. You must submit if you want your work evaluated. Thanks!

Flushing or hiding: You can bin the posts after critiques, if you hate 'em. Or use Mike's "Tips and Tricks" dodge: backdate the entries to before the blog's launch, so they don't publish on to the front page. The time-stamp controls are under the post-entry field. On Mac, I have to click the little "post options" arrow on the left. PCs display automatically, if memory serves.

Why we do this: all writers have unconscious habits. Drills like this help jar authors out of ruts. They also force us to make every word count, rather than writing reflexively, and to self-edit (which can be painful, but also very illuminating and instructive too).

Feedback: (Amanda) writing critique

Assignment week two

Settle on a template, make at least one post including a link and image. Post its permalink to the class forum's relevant assignment folder.

Get busy blogging!

Roll up your sleeves and wade in, gang! Launch that blog and make at least one post on any topic and of any length (though note that most entries weigh in from 100-500 words in this medium).

Also, please turn in one assignment by Tuesday at midnight, containing these elements:
1. Why is this blog important? (25 words or less)
2. Who cares (target audience)? (25 words or less)
3. What skills do I bring to this subject? (25 words or less)
4. What community is my blog building? (25 words or less)
5. What's my mission statement? (25 words or less)
6. Note your URL, so we can add your site to the blogroll

Please submit in the assignment folder. Each week has a separate bin, such as Assignment One, Introduce Your Blog. Please file accordingly – and check back in the same area for our comments late on Thursdays (or sometimes early, early Fridays PST).

Very personal questions can be sent via email: Mike and Amanda. But we much prefer chatting in the classroom, where everyone can benefit – and where spam folders don't lurk. Chances are, if you're panicking about image insertion on Blogger, someone else is too. And then we can inform y'all that we're covering that next week...

Ask questions in your Student folder, in the Q&A bin or via the comments here on the blog site. We've tried to create a lot of avenues into the information: what folks in the industry call "points of entry". So you'll see a list of recent comments, my conversations and active forum topics on the classroom site's sidebar. You can also view the whole list of forums. The site alerts you to new material.

Misplace a thread? Search or check low on the sidebar for "recent posts" under your name.

1. Target audience
2. Keep the home court advantage
3. Who was that masked blogger?
4. Bios: should you claim that blog?
5. Kicky bios and other profile tactics
6. SEO starter-kit – Master the headline
7. Oh, behave, with your bad headline self!
8. Organizing blog material
9. Intro to blog design: template primer
10. Search capacities for your blog
11. Adding, deleting and repositioning sidebar elements
12. Archiving your blog
13. Hang on, what's a blogroll? Sushi?
14. Stop skeezy link farms now!
15. Hey, I want one of those blogroll things!
16. Feature context and original content high
17. Matching design to content
18. Linktasia – connecting your blog to the larger world
19. How to link and create permalinks
20. The importance of art
21. Photo preparation for your blog
22. How to upload an image
23. Hear Amanda's headcold in almost real-time!
24. Assignment week two
25. Blogger Settings Explained
26. Tools for Writing Posts
27. Photo Software Advice
28. Web-friendly Image Formats and Compression
29. Troubleshooting Image Compression