My ‘Ready…Set…Build Your Blog’ workshop at #ASJA2011

Congratulations, you’ve finally decided that it’s time to start a blog.

You could be blogging for a client, to support a new book or to write more about a favorite subject.

Regardless of the content, the steps to getting started are the same.

But if you haven’t ever done it before, how do you figure out what to do first?

That’s where I come in.

I’m happy to announce that I will be moderating a hands-on workshop called Ready…Set…Build Your Blog on Sunday, May 1, from 9 a.m. to noon at the American Society of Journalists and Authors 2011 conference in New York City.

This three-hour intensive workshop will give you the tools you need to jump start a new blog or redesign an existing one.

The workshop will be run by a hand-picked group with expertise on particular aspects of blogging, including:

• Ron S. Doyle, a Denver freelance writer and website designer whose created blogs for dozens of successful writers, who will discuss WordPress and other blogging software platforms.
• Trish Lawrence, a Seattle-based social media strategist and agent intern for Erin Murphy Literary, who’ll talk about how writers and authors can use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to promote their blogs and themselves.
• Michelle Rafter – that’s me – a long-time freelance journalist who blogs for Entrepreneur Media’s SecondAct.com and runs the WordCount blogathon, an annual month-long blogging challenge for writers.

We’ll kick things off with a few words of wisdom from the panel, then get down to business. Writers will spend the bulk of their time in the workshop working on their blogs – including finding a hosting service (if they don’t already have one), choosing a theme, creating a handful of blog posts and more.

During the workshop, panelists will spend one-on-one time with every attendee, answering questions, making suggestions, providing any required hand-holding and generally helping get their blogs off and running.

The ASJA conference room where we’ll hold the workshop will have an Internet connection. All you need is:

• A laptop or netbook
• If you’re starting a blog – ideas for how and where you’d like to host a blog (on a free hosting platform like Blogger or WordPress.com or self-hosted service from a provider like GoDaddy or Bluehost), blog topics, names and posts
• If you’re building on an existing blog – ideas for blog posts, design changes or additions

That’s not all – the Ready…Set…Build Your Blog workshop coincides with the first day of the 2011 WordCount Blogathon. ASJA attendees who sign up for the blogathon during the workshop will be entered into a special drawing for a writing-related prize that I’ll announce at the end of the session.

Sound fun? Sign up for the ASJA conference if you haven’t already. The conference is open to the public on Saturday and Sunday. Registration for non-members is $385 for the weekend, or $150 for Sunday only. Registration for ASJA members is $425 for the weekend (including the members-only program on Friday) or $50 for Sunday only. Register here.

Read more about the 2011 ASJA conference here.