Bloggers Boot Camp

Charlie White is an author and consultant who's been writing articles published in magazines and websites since the early days of the Internet. He's written for Wired and Popular Science magazines, was Senior Editor of Mashable, Senior Associate Editor for gadget site Gizmodo and Deputy Editor of NBC Universal tech site DVICE. He’s written more than 9,000 published articles, totaling more than 3 million words. Before he began writing magazine articles, blog posts and books, Charlie enjoyed a 30-year career as an Emmy award-winning television producer/director, directing five national television series for PBS John Biggs?writes about technology for the?46 million page-view-per-month website?TechCrunch. He was former editor of Gawker Media's?Gizmodo. He has a Master’s Degree in Business and Economic Journalism from NYU and is currently completing a non-fiction study of Marie Antoinette’s watch (he’s also a watch nut). After spending four years as an IT programmer during the dot-com era, he became a full-time journalist. He’s the author of the book,?Black Hat: Misfits, Criminals, and Scammers in the Internet Age.

Chapter 1 The Niche



What’s Your Name, Private?



What the Heck Is Blogging?



What Is a Blogger?



NEW Blogging And The Mainstream Media



The Four Questions



The Two Rules



Chapter 2 Getting Started



Basic HTML for Bloggers



NEW Basic CSS For Bloggers



Pick a Domain



NEW Ready-made Platforms - Add new platforms here



How Do I Pick a Platform?



NEW Why Themes Are Important



NEW Buying Themes



Should You Hire a Web Designer?



Tools of the Trade. 42



Chapter 3 Target Practice



The 1,000 Words Rule



Enhance Your Writing by Reading



The Bloggers Duffel Bag: Essential Skills for Getting Through the Day



Blog Photography Tips



Videography



NEW Mobile Photos And Video



NEW Podcasting



Chapter 4 Hello, World



Introducing Yourself



Producing Intro Posts



Writing Your Contact Page



NEW Gaining A Social Media Presence



NEW Dangers Of Social Media



NEW Three Rules For Spreading The Word



NEW To Microblog Or Not To Microblog



Chapter 5 How to Write a Blog Post



Types of Posts



Deadly Headline Kills 200,000 Innocent Readers



To Capitalize or Not Capitalize. 106



Use Perfect Grammar or Your Credibility Is Shot. 107



Top Five Grammar Goofs



The Finer Points



Blogging Traps



Graphics and How to Use Them



When Should You Post?



Snark and the Single Blogger



Post Length



Being a Better Blogger



NEW Sourcing



NEW Writing So Someone Will Read You



Chapter 6 What to Write About



Need to Know



How to Decide What Matters to Your Readers. 81



Finding News



NEW RSS Readers



NEW Twitter



NEW LinkedIn



NEW Google Plus



More Sources: Press Releases from PR People



Conferences/Trade Shows



Dinners & Events



Tipsters



Dealing with PR People



Review Units



How to Snag Review Units



Review It or Not—Pan It or Skip It?



Should I Return Review Units?



Ten Questions to Ask Before Posting



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Chapter 7 Mob Rule, Inciting a Riot, and Freedom of Speech



You’re in Control



Dealing with the Angry Mob



Understanding Spam



NEW Which Comment Platform To Use?



Rewarding Loyal Fans



NEW Should You Turn Off Comments?



Chapter 8 Building Traffic, Making Money and Measuring Success



SEO for Bloggers



Off-Page



The SEO Bottom Line



Social Media Sharing



Contests



Measuring Success



How To Make Money



Chapter 9 Blogging Ethics



Libel and Slander



Shield Law



Mr(s). Cellophane



Junket Junkies



Free Stuff



Caught in a Trap



Leaks and Trust



Stand Up Straight, Private



NEW Be Nice Or Be Right



NEW Blogging's Golden Rule



NEW Chapter 10 The Perks O