I attended Erin Blaskie’s Blog Design Bootcamp last year and I am still utilizing the skills I learned in her class with my clients and I built this site shortly after attending her class.  Erin’s teaching techniques make learning blog design easy because she shares her desktop screen and is on the phone with the students.

She takes the time to answer questions in a way that make it easy to understand. Purchasing a seat in her class was the best investment I made in my business.  She is once again offering this fantastic class live from February 1-8, 2010 — 7-9PM EST. The Blog Design Bootcamp is an intense 10-hour course of webinar / virtual training.

Here are some of the topics she will be covering, see the full list on Erin’s event site.

Understanding the Basics
* Installing the blog platform with the one-click install feature
* Using an FTP client to upload files – themes, plug-ins, etc.

Customizing a Theme — Part I
* Working with the CSS to make changes to colors, etc.
* Setting up Google Analytics on the blog from day one

Customizing a Theme — Part II
* Working with sidebar widgets
* Looking at more advanced plug-ins. (Sociable, WP-Video, Technorati Tags, etc.)
* Working with external services ie: Feedburner

Other House-Keeping Functions
* Creating and managing pages
* Creating and managing posts
* Setting up permissions / privacy / allowances for the blog

How to Deliver Blog Design to Your Clients
* How to charge for your blog design
* Setting boundaries – how to draw the line at the number of on-going changes to the blog design

If you are in need of creating a website or blog for your business or your clients then this is the class that you need to invest your money in.  I highly recommend Erin’s classes, she is very knowledgeable and a great teacher.  To sign up for the course you can visit Erin’s event site or email me at dawn@SunriseVirtualServices.com if you have any questions about her class.

Do you want to learn how to create a WordPress Blog site that looks like mine?  Almost a year ago I took an awesome class offered online by Erin Blaskie.  I learned so much from Erin that I have gone on to create two WordPress sites for my self and helped countless of other clients create and update their blog sites as well.

She will teach you how to install, setup and customize the blog as well as show you how to use it for yourself and for your clients.

The training is a 10 hour, 5 day program which takes place June 22 – 26 from 5-7pm Eastern Standard Time.

The cost of this program is $197 and you’ll have full access to high quality video and audio recordings for safekeeping (or if you need to miss any classes).  This is a great resource as I have even gone back to refer to her lessons from time to time.

Register for the class or learn more about Erin Blaskie, she’s fabulous.

Here’s what you will learn:

Class #1 – Understanding the Basics (2 Hours)

* What is a blog?
* Installing the blog platform with the one-click install feature
* Using an FTP client to upload files – themes, plug-ins, etc.
* Choosing and installing a theme
* General overview of the dashboard – all the features, settings, etc.
* The basic plug-ins that come pre-installed with WordPress and how to set them up

Class #2 – Customizing a Theme — Part I (2 Hours)

* Understanding the different design files inside of the Design — Theme Editor
* Working with the CSS to make changes to colors, etc.
* Setting up Google Analytics on the blog from day one
* Looking at the settings and users menus

Class #3 – Customizing a Theme — Part II (2 Hours)

* Creating a custom header for your blog
* Changing out some of the base graphics that come with the theme.
* Working with sidebar widgets
* Looking at more advanced plug-ins. (Sociable, WP-Video, Technorati Tags, etc.)
* Working with external services ie: Feedburner

Class #4 – Other House-Keeping Functions (2 Hours)

* Creating and managing categories
* Creating and managing pages
* Creating and managing posts
* Setting up permissions / privacy / allowances for the blog
* Using e-mail to blog
* Backing up the blog

Class #5 – How to Deliver Blog Design to Your Clients (2 Hours)

* How to listen to their needs and honor their vision
* How to work with a design brief (your blog design blueprint)
* How to charge for your blog design
* Setting boundaries – how to draw the line at the number of on-going changes to the blog design

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