According to social media expert Erik Qualman, more than 200,000,000 blogs exist. Now, I love my little blog, but it has mostly been written with topics that were of interest to me and a select group of people (“Hi Mom and Dad!”). It’s past time to take my blog to the next level and highlight my copywriting capabilities.
So when I found Hollis Gillespie and Mike Alvear’s Atlanta Blogging Workshop advertised in Creative Loafing, I was ecstatic. Usually I wince every time I shell out more than $25 on myself, but ongoing education is so important. Especially for solo-preneurs like myself where my company’s greatest asset is…me (gulp).
The six hour seminar surpassed my expectations. Although I suspect many of the participants left the workshop with information overload and a long to-do list, I walked out with a clear direction of where to take my blog and what to do next.
Hollis and Mike co-taught, facilitating the exchange of ideas and sharing success stories. They held the class in a cozy, adorable, crazy studio decked out in outlandish décor. Although “finger food and champagne,” was advertised, there was enough food to feed the snackiest of snackers like myself. Delectables came at us all day in the form of fruit, muffins, cookies, cake, pesto pizza, chips, and more. I certainly think better when I’m served mimosas in the afternoon and dining on scrumptious food. The 13 or so of us participants sat in comfy chairs clustered around a long conference table.
Without giving all the seminar content away, I’d like to share a few workshop highlights. It was comprised of the following components:
-we reviewed several sample blogs as case studies to identify success factors
-we went around the room and each participant was able to explain where he or she was with their blog and any challenges they were having. ¾ of the room only had concepts of what they wanted to accomplish and had not created a blog yet. It was great to provide ideas and suggestions to people and in return get feedback for my own blog
-we were taught core blogging concepts such as having a narrow, niche concept, promoting your own work, having passion for your work, and the importance of writing killer content
And lastly, Hollis said something that resonated with me. One of the participants didn’t know what topic he would blog about and was a little lost trying to come up with ideas. So Hollis asked him: what would the world be missing without you in it? Blog or not, we should all consider the answer to this question. Life is about living with purpose and passion. Cheers!
Jenny Munn
Latest posts by Jenny Munn (see all)
- SearchGPT Has Landed – Here’s What Marketers Need to Know - November 7, 2024
- Download This Free Quarterly SEO Plan Template - October 7, 2024
- Four 2024 SEO Planning Tips for World Domination - November 16, 2023
5 Comments
Excellent article. Will you please write more about this topic.
Does this blogging course still exist in Atlanta? Do you know of any other(s) for beginners.
Thank you
Marguerite Merlin
HI there – so sorry for the late reply! I thought it did still exist but actually haven’t seen any promotions for it in awhile. Definitely see if you can track down and reach out to Hollis.