Yesterday I attended a free class by the SBA which was all about the other free small business resources that exist in my city. I learned about a lot of great resources but the one that I think is going to be the best one for me is the public library. Of course, I did already know that I could get some free stuff from the library (like books) since I use my library regularly. What I didn’t know was that there is a lot of free information on the line that I can access through the library which I can’t actually access through the Internet.
The main thing that I learned is that my public library system subscribes to numerous databases that would cost me a fortune to sign up for on my own. These are databases like LexisNexis (which I used during my brief stint in law school) and databases to help you find certain companies or suppliers. There are also databases here filled with journals. I’m so excited about this for my online writing work.
The one thing that I dislike most about writing online is that so much of the information that I write about is something I read online elsewhere and am repeating. Sure, I provide my own take on it. I try really hard to do outside research and to interview people to get a new perspective on these re-hashed topics. But the truth of the matter is that, beyond what I share of my own experiences, you can get most of the information that I provide somewhere else on the web.
What I’m hoping is that having access to these databases will change that. I feel like I’ll be able to do much more comprehensive research into scholarly levels of a topic. I could do that before by actually going to the library but I rarely do that because of the time it takes. Now that I’ve discovered that my library card gives me online access to these databanks, I’m going to be able to do that level of in-depth research at home. I think it’s going to benefit my clients and make my writing a lot more interesting.
Yay for San Francisco’s Public Library system!
Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend an SBA class on the topic of blogging for businesses. The class was geared towards people who own a small business (or who want to) and who were seeking information on how to use a blog to benefit that business. I attended the class as someone who blogs for businesses professionally.
You may be wondering (as a couple of other people there did) why I was bothering to take a basic business blogging class when I do this for a living. The answer is a simple one - I want to learn who my clients are. I work with people who own a business but who don’t necessarily know how to launch, promote and utilize a blog. I interact with them online but that interaction is limited. Most of them just give their blog to me and then let me run with it. I thought it would be great to meet some people who are in the same position as my clients in order to get a better viewpoint on what they might need from someone like me.
Here’s what I learned from this class:
- The primary thing that blog clients need is information. I forget that not everyone knows how to set up a blog or what a Twitter account is. I think that my clients could benefit from learning what the different options are for blogging / social media. I have been thinking for awhile about adding blog consulting to the list of services that I provide - essentially teaching business owners the basics of blogging and guiding them through content creation. I think that this would be a big benefit to certain clients.
- I know more about blogging than I sometimes think that I know. I often feel inferior to major bloggers who blog daily about blogging and social media. (I’m thinking of people like Darren Rowse.) I blog about a variety of different topics and don’t focus specifically on what’s going on with web writing and social media. What I learned from my participation in the class is that I actually do know a lot compared to the average person and that I can benefit others by sharing what I know.
- I don’t know as much as I need to know about blogging and social media. I was pleasantly surprised to learn about some new sites and tools that I’m not using yet. I learned why it might be better to use bit.ly for URL shortening than the programs I’ve been using (primarily because it offers web analytics information that I didn’t know about before). I also learned about xeesm.com where I can create a contact and links sheet to share with others through a single URL. More importantly, this class reminded me that there are a lot of aspects of blogging that I’m familiar with but that I’m not implementing on my personal blogs (despite that I do them for clients). I want to get back on track with developing and promoting my own blogs. To do that, I need to create a small business plan for my blogs. This goes along with what I recently mentioned which is that my number one writing goal right now is to get organized.
The class was informative and helpful for me as a blogger. I got to meet some great people and had some ideas spurred that I think are going to be really inspirational this week for my own blogging goals. Great stuff. And kudos to the teacher of the class - Carlos R. Hernandez. Check out his blog / site on social media and Web 2.0 topics.
Question for other bloggers and web writers - do you attend classes and networking events around blogging? What has been your experience with that so far?
Bachelor’s Degree Online doesn’t sound like a site that I would have any particular reason to write about here on this blog about my writing life. However, sometimes things surprise you. This site about college education also has a blog and this blog has a lot of really useful resources for writers that may be worth taking a moment to check out, particularly if you are someone who writes for the web.
Some examples of the resources that they have on the site include:
- 100 Free and Useful Open Courseware Classes for Web Workers. This is a list of classes that aer available for web writers interested in improving their work on the web. In addition to writing and communications classes, it may be beneficial to take classes in entrepreneurship, marketing, copyright law and various aspects of technology and Internet design.
- 100 Free Open Courses to be your own Financial Advisor. This is something that all freelance writers can benefit from learning a little bit more about isn’t it? And there has got to be at least one course in this list that would be of benefit to you particularly the ones that fall under the categories of entrepreneurship and taxes.
- 100 Tips, Tools and Resources for Taking your Book Club to the Next Level. Most writers are also readers and many of them join book clubs. If you fit that bill then maybe you’re ready to take a step up with your book club.
- 100 Sites With Free Literature Downloads. Maybe you’re not a book club person but you are someone who likes to download books online. Here are one hundred places where you can do that at no cost. Get classics, textbooks and even children’s books here!
- 50 Useful Google Apps for Writers. Did you even know that there were that many Google applications that writers might find useful? There are tools for websites and blogs, communication with others, online marketing, organization and more.
What great “top 100 lists”. Another one to check out is:
- 100 Fun and Useful Search Engines For Writers. Sometimes it just doesn’t make sense to stick with Google. There are specific search engines for writers who specialize in certain topics such as business, medicine, technology or academics. There are also search engines great for doing different kinds of research like looking up people or going through certain publications.
If I ever make another Top 100 Lists of 100 Resources for Writers then I’ll be sure to include some of these on that list.
And although it’s not related to this college education site at all, a little fun fact about me is that I completed most of my bachelor’s degree online so I’m definitely a support of online education. I don’t think my degree itself was necessarily beneficial to my career but the practice of working full time online certainly prepared me for my job!
