Before we build our blogs

Before we get started, I want you to take a look at some examples to see how the blog can work to help you develop your professional voice. Take a look at a few of these blogs and think about the differences between them. Who are they? What might their audience(s) look like? How long have they been blogging? These links are available on iCollege in our Blog Project module page. 

Your Blog

The blogs we looked at (see above) are well-developed and polished. Your blog won’t need to look as fancy – the goal for us is just to get started. Blogs can help to demonstrate your professional interests and build connections with your peers. They are also a good way to find your professional footing and develop yourself as an expert voice in your field.

When we think about the word “voice” in this way, we are really thinking about the tone and personality your convey in your writing, as part of your public persona. Remember, a professional voice is not necessarily an impersonal one (unless you are writing boilerplate documents and contracts). So, what is your voice? Are you warm and bubbly? Down to earth? straightforward and to the point? What does your audience hear when you write?

These are some of the questions we will explore with the blog, while giving you a chance to practice writing for an unnamed public audience. 

Building Your Blog

We will build our blog using sites.gsu.edu, an edublog available to everyone in the GSU community.  As a student, you automatically have access to this platform. The benefit of this is that you don’t have to pay for hosting. However, you won’t be able to keep the blog after you graduate, so if you are interested in continuing your site beyond your academic career, let’s talk about ways to extend the life of your writing. If you already have a student site that you are actively using for another course, let me know ASAP so we can plan an alternate site (spoiler alert, I already have an option for you). 

To begin building your blog, open a new tab and log on to sites.gsu.edu. In the top right hand corner you will see the log in button. Log in using your GSU credentials. Once logged in, the top right hand corner will have a menu that looks like this:

 

 

Hover over the My Sites tab, where you will see your name. Click on your name. This will take you to the back end of your website, also known as the dashboard:

 

Note There are two sides to a website: the front end, which is what the public sees, and  the back end, which is where content is created and design is completed. Think of these as two sides to a stage. Your back end is behind the scenes, where sets are being constructed for the audience. The front end is the part of the stage visible to the audience. Your dashboard, the black bar along the left side of the back end page, is the control panel where you customize your pages and organize the look of your blog. You will do most of your design work in “Appearances,” “Posts,” and “Pages.”

Once you are in your dashboard, do the following: 

1. Hover over “Appearances” which you will find halfway down the dashboard and click on “Themes.” Themes are like skins and determine the look and mood of your site.
2. Select a theme that visually communicates your persona and purpose. Image heavy themes will not necessarily come loaded with images, so you may need to customize those themes a bit more.
3. Once you have selected a theme to use for your blog, hover over “Appearances” again and click on “Customize.” This will take you to a new dashboard menu.
4. From the new menu, click on Site Identity. Rename the site title with your name. Use the tagline any way you wish, including deleting it altogether, but do not keep the placeholder text that is there. Consider using a meaningful quote, or perhaps use it to identify your professional title. Once you have changed both of these, save your progress by clicking “publish” and then click the “x” to close the menu. 
5. Once you have changed your site identity, hover over your name at the top of the page and click on “visit site.” Copy the URL – this is your website URL. Then go to our iCollege page and look for the Site URL submission box under assignments. Paste the URL and submit your website.

Writing Your Posts

Continue to play with your site over the next month, but you are now set up to begin writing your first post. As mentioned in the syllabus, I leave the subject of your posts up to you, but they should connect to your professional interests or goals.

When you are ready to write your first post, write your first draft in a Word document. The blog mimics word processing software in many ways, but it does not include any editing applications. Once you have drafted and confirmed your spelling, capitalizations, etc. you are ready to transfer your post to your blog. To do that, go back to your dashboard and hover over “Posts.” Click on “new Post” and paste your text into the text box. Confirm that your paragraph formatting has carried over. Play with formatting by using the “Format” box on the right hand side of the post page. Once you feel comfortable with your post, press publish. 

When writing your posts, visit posts from the example blogs above to help guide your own work. While your post content is up to you, please follow these few brief guidelines:

• Posts are like mini-articles. They should not be too brief, or too long. Your word length should be between 300 and 500 words.
• Again, draft and revise in Word so you have editing tools available.
• Add images or any other relevant media. If your goal is to work in music production, perhaps your post has a sound component. If your goal is to work in film, clips, images, etc. are important. Make sure you give credit to the media you include, comprised of owner/author, title, source URL, etc. Finally, make sure any outside sources are approved by the owner if they are not published. Check to see if they have licenses like a creative commons license, which allows sharing of work with acknowledgement.
• Use a snappy title – remember, that this element of business writing is as much tied to marketing you as it is to business convention.
• Focus on your tone – what is your voice? How are you transmitting your professional persona? How do you want to be heard? Finally, remember that a professional tone should not be confused with an impersonal one. Developing your professional tone is more about cadence, word choice, and putting your readers at ease that you are genuine and trustworthy.
• Finally, make this post relevant to your work and your career goals. Look back at the Assignment Overview for more. 

Submit each post to the iCollege in the same manner that you submit your initial site URL. The posts, altogether, are worth 20% of your total grade.