blogs for librarians - karen du toit

Karen du Toit

Blogs for LibrariansLIASA Webinar 25 Nov 2015(part of the “Social Media for Librarians” -series of webinars)

Blogger- SABC Media Libraries

- Karen’s 23 Mobile Things

- MomAgain@40

- About.Me

What is a Blog?

Web-log (online)

Reverse chronology

Interactive

Personal

Informal

Hyperlinks

Why Blog? http://youtu.be/livzJTIWlmY

Seth Godin and Tom Peters on Blogging

Why blog for librarians? Increase productivity Reach out to your users Promote services Train users (young & old) Pass on social media skills Become part of global discussions

How to start a blog? Planning – WWWWH? Branding(The Library), niche, audience

Title

Theme

Why Blogger? Free User-friendly Comprehensive widgets Zero downtime Integration with Google products: Google+, Analytics, etc Google managed security Adding a custom domain very easy/cheap Blogger sites added to Google search within 24 hours Great starting platform to learn the ropes Only need a Gmail password to start

Blogger www.blogger.com

Let’s play BLOG!

Blogger.com- Blog address & user name fixed > NB!- Google password strong- Title & address same (SEO)- Create blog in 3 steps!

Template

Settings

Before we begin…Question marks in Blogger settings Click them if unsure

Settings: Basic (1)

Settings: Basic (2)

Settings: Posts and Comments Settings: Posts

Settings: Posts and Comments Comments

Settings: Mobile and Email

Settings: Language and formatting

Settings: Search preferences

Settings Other

Layout

Layout: Add a Gadget

Gadgets

Gadgets 2

Gadgets 3

Online etiquette Rule of thumb! Don’t post anything you don’t want your

mother to see. Stay neutral Use “They” and third person when reporting about anything

in the library Grammar and punctuation rules! Tone down your language Respect others and their opinions Brevity the best! (300-500 word per blog post!)

New post

Text hereTex

Your text here

Multi-mediaInsert via postOr via code

Reminder!!

Only use your own, free or Creative Commons multi-media!

Free stock photos/images http://iStockPhoto.com http://Seedresources.com Flickr Creative Commons:

http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons http://www.sxc.hu http://rgbstock.com

CC LicenceThe creator of any content decides how they want to share

stipulating their own conditions http://www.commoncraft.com/video/copyright-and-creative-co

mmons (great video for understanding CC license easily!)

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/creative-commons-use/ https://creativecommons.org/

Add gadget on sidebar Add code into blog post

Embed code

Copy and paste Use for any embed code

Copy and paste after changed blog to HTML

Ability to switch between normal & code

Photo with caption

Insert links (hyperlinks)

Make your blog interactive

Interaction

Comments Share buttons Social media buttons (to follow you) RSS feeds Email updates Supply contact details on sidebar or “About”

Sharing Share each blog post on all social media sites, especially

Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn (avoid automatic updates)

Share more than once to allow for different time zones Write guests posts for topic aligned sites Accept guests posts with topic aligned content and links Comment on topic aligned blogs

Share buttons

More sharing

Enable readers of blog to share your content

Enable readers of blog to follow you

1. Add gadget from More gadgets in right navigation bar

2. Add Social Media buttons (Search for free Social Media buttons)

Add gadget > “Image”link to Twitter & Facebook &

Labels in Blogger

Tabs = Labels Work on own thesaurus of labels – stick to it!

Labels in Blog postAdd gadget: Labels

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Increase traffic with SEO (Blogger Help)

Examples of blogs The Daring Librarian (Gwyneth Jones) New York Public Library blogs Jan Holmquist / Worldwide thoughts of a Danish librarian International Librarians Network The Archival Platform

Resources How to start a blog on Blogger – Wikihow Blogging tips on Pinterest by Karen du Toit- Blogging Blogger Help Center How the New York Public Library is using blogs

Questions?