Please join Nicole Ouellette for a series of 3 WordPress classes called ”Learn
How to Blog and Create Web Sites with WORDPRESS” beginning Thursday,
Nov. 17 and then again on Dec. 1st and 8th.

These classes will be held at Something’s Cookin’ at 19 Clark Point Rd. in Southwest Harbor, 
from 6:30-8:30 p.m. These are active, working sessions. Please bring a laptop. Class size is
limited so call in advance to make a reservation and to collect the class to-do list
as there are some things you need to bring to the first class. You do not need to
attend all three.

Class One: Intro To WordPress The main goal of this workshop is to help
participants create a website or blog using the free & open source website
management software WordPress. (www.wordpress.org) WordPress has a lot of
functionality built in, is customizable, and can grow as your website grows. We
will discuss how to create pages, add media (like photos) to those pages, create
a menu, and add basic functionality (like a contact form) to your site.

Class Two: WordPress 201 This class will concentrate on improving the
Wordpress website from class 1 with additional functionality and design options.
Widgets, plugins, and themes will be explored as well as how to do basic tweaks
to customize your site's look and feel. Note: E-commerce resources will be
discussed but not used during this workshop.

Class Three: Promoting Your Website Now that your website is built, it's time
to promote it. We'll discuss basic best practices related to search engine
optimization (making your site great for search engines like Google) as well as
promoting your website with email marketing, social media, and online directory
listings like Google Places.

Now you don’t get to sit back and relax. These classes are work sessions (but,
you know, fun). It is recommended that participants come to the workshop with:

1) Content for their website (text, photos, video, etc.). Trust me, you’ll be taking
in so much technology information at the workshop that the last thing you’ll feel
like doing is generating an FAQ or writing employee bios on the spot.
2) Registered domain name and website hosting for their website. Cost for the
workshops does not including the purchase of your domain name and web
hosting. A package through Svaha LLC will be available for $72
which includes domain name registration and web hosting for one year.

NOTE: If you have a domain name and/or another web host, WordPress will
need to be installed on your domain before the first class. Contact Nicole
Ouellette for help with this by November 10. nicole@breakingeveninc.com
Demo accounts will be created for people who do not have a domain but would
like to attend the class and experiment. These files can be moved to a domain
once a domain and web hosting are purchased. The demo files will be available
until December 31, 2011.
3) A laptop/computer (Please let us know if you don’t have one and we’ll try to
provide one.)

Each workshop will be 2 hours long beginning on Thursday, Nov. 17th, Dec. 1, and Dec. 8 2011
from 6:30-8:30 pm. at Something’s Cookin’ 19 Clark Point Rd.,
Southwest Harbor, next to the US Post Office. Cost is $30 per class. Space is
limited. Please call 207-669-2978 to make a reservation or email: info@somethingscookin-on-mdi.com.

Attendees can receive an ice cream dessert if they dine at JayDub’s, next door
prior to the class. Share and Enjoy:

]]> http://downeastlearning.com/learn-how-to-blog-and-create-web-sites-with-wordpress-three-part-series/feed/ 0 http://downeastlearning.com/upcoming-workshops-social-media-and-wordpress/ http://downeastlearning.com/upcoming-workshops-social-media-and-wordpress/#comments Tue, 22 Mar 2011 15:29:06 +0000 admin http://downeastlearning.com/?p=150 After having mostly finished shoveling out from the winter, we are back and ready to offer some technology workshops to help you gear up for the summer season.

Social Media for Restaurants 101, Tuesday, March 29, 9 am-12 pm, Ellsworth City Hall. FMI: www.socialmediafood101.eventbrite.com

Social Media for Restaurants 201, Tuesday, April 5, 9 am-12 pm, Ellsworth City Hall. FMI:www.socialmediafood201.eventbrite.com

One Day Website: An Introduction To WordPress, Thursday, April 5, 5-7 pm, Ellsworth City Hall FMI: www.introtowordpress.eventbrite.com

You can register right through the links or contact us if you have any questions/comments.

Hope to see you soon!

That said, if you are in the mood to still go to the Maine Grind Thursday night, there is going to be a great presentation by the Penobscot Marine Museum of historic photographs from Downeast Maine from their collection. Some rare and cool stuff for history buffs and locals. Don’t worry it’ll be downstairs where the furnace is working and it’ll be nice and toasty.

See you in November or online!

Online review websites like TripAdvisor have been a mainstay for tourism-related businesses. But guess what? It’s getting easier to find websites that review more unconventional businesses: retail stores, doctors, and even individual products.

On Thursday October 14 from 6 – 8 PM at the Maine Grind, 192 Main Street, Ellsworth, ME,  Downeast Learning will present a workshop will cover what review sites people are using and how you can;

• Claim’ your listings and get updated when people post reviews about your business
• Use these sites to build your reputation online and increase sales
• Encourage reviews from your customers
• Track how many people view your business page
• When & how to respond to a review, privately & publicly
• Add photos, a detailed business description, up-to-date information, special offers and upcoming events
• Recommend other businesses

So remember it could be the dark days when you didn’t know what people were saying about you. But now you can do something about it!

To register: http://youvebeenyelped.eventbrite.com/

Every month, Downeast Learning brings you a technology learning opportunity for businesses and non-profits in Downeast (and coastal) Maine. This month’s workshop is about Google Analytics, a free tool to track who visits your website, how they got there and what they did when they visited. This data can help you understand what your website visitors are looking for and how you can better adjust your site to meet their needs.

Mainly a beginners workshop, this workshop will cover setup, implementation, and a review of the various reports available from Google Analytics.  Also covered will be ways to use this tool to benefit your business or organization.

This workshop will be presented by Amy Tellier-Briggs who recently attended a training session by a certified Google Analytics partner and is eager to share what she learned with us.

When: Wednesday, September 29 from 6-8 pm
Where:  Maine Grind, 192 Main Street, Ellsworth, ME
Fee: $25/participant (limited to first 25 registrants)

Register online at www.downeastlearning.eventbrite.com

For more information e-mail info@downeastlearning.com or call 207-812-0285

Google Analytics is a free (!) tool to track your website statistics. You can tell all kinds of cool things like where your website visitor is (well, more or less), how long they stay on your site, what they look at, and enough other information to make your head spin. But don’t worry, we’ll help you make all that data work for you! We may even have fun doing it.

This month’s guest presenter is Amy Tellier-Briggs. Amy has worked in online retail and web communications for over ten years, and is a current Google Analytics user. She recently attended a training session by a certified Google Analytics partner in Philadelphia, and is eager to share what she’s learned.  And here’s Amy’s workshop description:

“This is mainly a beginner’s class, covering setup, implementation, and a review of the various reports available from Google Analytics – that’s the “how.”

We’ll also delve a bit deeper into the “why,” through discussions on ways to use GA to benefit your business, insights on what to report on (and what not to), and what all that data can and should mean to you.

You’ll leave the session with a good amount of knowledge, and a whole lot of questions, but that’s what analytics is all about – asking the right questions and making sense of their answers. You’ll also be given a list of great analytics resources for further study.”

Sounds great to me, Amy. I’d be there even if I wasn’t helping run the show!

To sign up, visit www.downeastlearning.eventbrite.com. 25 slots only so register early!

If you’ve been meaning to learn a little more about email marketing, tomorrow night’s workshop is for you. We’re going to use the free web-based service MailChimp to create an online center for email sends. We’ll not only go over best practices but actually help you set things up so you are ready to go. Yup, we like to be helpful like that.

Wednesday, August 25, 6-8 pm
Maine Grind, Ellsworth Maine (upstairs- bring your own coffee/snacks as downstairs closes at 5:30)
Sign up at www.downeastlearning.eventbrite.com.

Hope to see you there!

Using the fantastic software MailChimp, learn how to import your contacts from your current email client (Gmail, Outlook, etc.), create an email template, create and send an email marketing campaign, and measuring the success of your campaign. Including how to integrate email newsletter setup into your website and social media accounts and how to create incentives for people to sign up.

Intro To Email Marketing
Wednesday, August 25
6-8 pm, Maine Grind, Ellsworth, ME

To sign up:

http://downeastlearning.eventbrite.com

Early Bird tickets available for a discount. Limited quantity so sign up soon!

Most of the time, our workshops are on a Wednesday night but sometimes, you just need a three hour chunk of time on a weekend to tackle a big topic.

Matt and I taught our very first class about using WordPress and we’ve decided to do it again since we got asked about it so much.

Saturday, July 24, 1-4 pm, Maine Grind in Ellsworth, Maine

Before the workshop, Matt and I will get WordPress installed on the domain of your choice. This way, the day of the workshop, we can concentrate on building the website you want.

(Matt’s company Svaha is offering a domain name and year of web hosting for $50 for workshop participants. We’ll send you the code when you register… in other words, $100 and an afternoon of work and you can have a website. No excuses now!)

The main goal of this workshop is to help participants create a website or blog using the free & open source website management software WordPress. (www.wordpress.org) We like WordPress because it’s got a lot of functionality built in, is customizable, and can grow as your website grows.

The first two hours will give an introduction to the software, including installation and using basic plug-ins to create the website you want. We each have our favorite plugins and we’ll show you where you can find many more to help make your website work for you.

The third hour will be free time to work on your website. This time will also be used to address specific questions from participants, including how to create content and promote your site using internet marketing (social media, blogging, etc.)

Now you don’t get to sit back and relax. This is a work session (but, you know, a fun one.) It is recommended that participants come to the workshop with:

1) Content for their website (text, photos, video, etc.). Trust me, you’ll be taking in so much technology information at the workshop that the last thing you’ll feel like doing is generating an FAQ or writing employee bios on the spot.

2) Registered domain name and website hosting so their website. Cost for the workshop does not including the purchase of your domain name and web hosting. Special package through Svaha LLC will be $50 which includes domain name registration and web hosting for one year.*

3) A laptop/computer (Please let us know if you don’t have one and we’ll try to provide one.)

To register: www.downeastlearning.eventbrite.com

*Once users sign up for the workshop, they’ll receive an email with instructions on how to redeem their domain name and web hosting for one year with Svaha LLC.

Matt and I hope to see you there! And if you have questions, please leave a comment below, because I bet other people have your exact same question!

-Nicole

You know your business can benefit from Facebook. It’s easy to set up a basic page but now what?

In this workshop, learn how to:

- post content so it’s eye-catching (you can customize the thumbnails and writing displayed when you post a web link for example)
- engage your visitors
- change display settings and personalize the look of the page (get rid of those tabs you don’t use, etc.)
- use FBML to add a bit of HTML code to a page, like subscribing to an email newsletter or adding an image
- use “Insights” (Facebook stats) to learn about your fans
- add functionality with applications

and more!

If you have any topics or Facebook questions you want us to cover, comment below or contact us. You can also register for the workshop by clicking here. Only 25 slots so register now if you want to go!