About
Hi and Welcome to the easy & enjoyable “How-to-create” Web 2.0 websites, blogs & online marketing sites!
First of all, I have a confession to make: I’m a full-blooded non-techy. I say this because other non-techy friends are so wonderfully complimentary when I invite them to visit my site. “You’re a ‘whiz’!” they say, “You’re really ‘in’ to this computer stuff!”
A ‘whiz’ at computers & the internet - I am not!
But, YES! I love learning about these tools and using them!
- I love learning about how I can use these new media instruments to communicate!
- I love learning how I can use them to teach and help others – especially, other non-techies, senior citizens, people who are learning English as a second or foreign language, EFL/ESL/ESOL teachers, trainers, coaches, mentors – to communicate with these marvellous Web 2.0 tools!
- I am so glad I have lived to see such marvellous, easy-to-use media reach we, the common, everyday people.
These tools enable you and me, and anyone who wants to, to have a voice, to have our say, to share our vision of reality, our experiences, good & bad….
These new media instruments allow each one of us to be reporters, journalists, anchors, stars, heros, villians, communicators….
And now, another confession: I’m hoping that eventually, in the very near future, I’ll be able to take what I’m learning and turn it into online work, so that I can return home and help out in the care for my sick and aging parents as I earn a living online teaching & helping others. A pie-in-the-sky dream? Hope not! But, I figure I have nothing to lose by trying.
So, who is this non-techy who wants to help others learn about and use the easy & enjoyable Web 2.0? you ask….
I would describe myself, first and foremost, as a communicator. I have worked in one field or another of “old” media all my professional life: publishing, marketing, public speaking, audio, video & radio production, education….
It was while I was wearing my communicator-educator hat – as an English Second/ Foreign Language (EFL/ESL/ESOL) coach – that I re-explored website & blog creation. I wanted to find ways that I could help my students via this online medium.
A few years before when I had looked into building a website, I saw that it required “geek” skills which I didn’t possess nor had the time to acquire. So I shelfed the whole idea until I realized I needed to be a comforting, helpful – but income-generating – presence to my old, ill parents. I desperately searched for jobs & job-skills that would allow me to be an employed, ”stay-at-home” daughter.
You can imagine my delight now as I learn about the Web 2.0 revolution that is taking place! What was once the land of “Merlin”-like media & web wizards is now an open school of wizardry for us all. Now, we all can reach out to each other in full multi-media splendor – and we don’t need to break the bank or learn esoteric languages to do it. Our brothers & sisters in the geek/wizard world have done all the behind-the-scenes coding for us (thank you so much!) – we just write, record, shoot, upload, publish!
With excitement I began sharing what I was learning. However, I quickly realized that most of the people I talked with were not aware of the many innovations of Web 2.0 that now make it so easy – and enjoyable – to create a website &/or blog. They felt confused & overwhelmed because many of them still remembered the early internet period when website creation was a mysterious closed art full of incomprehensible gibberish.
Furthermore, most people still kept a weary eye on internet marketing – was it a worthy, honorable & profittable profession? Legal, security and technical questions still loomed large in their minds. They do not know about the security and technical advances that Web 2.0 has made possible when it comes to doing business with, as well as starting up & running, an online/internet marketing site. They do not know how to sift out the good online businesses from the sharks that exist in every profession. They are not aware of the ’signs’ to look for & the good practices to follow when shopping and doing business online.
So, since I have been gathering and preparing a wide variety of information on the various aspects of creating and maintaining a blog and/or a website, as well as an online marketing site, I decided to set up this WordPress website with blog (on this site, I will call my blog, mini-lessons) and share what I have learned. (And if you wish, help you set up the basics for online or internet marketing.)
My principal goal is to make this process E-A-S-Y for you! I want you to find website and blog creation, as well as online marketing, easy and enjoyable !
Why? Because it should be! We’re in Web 2.0!
Technological advances are stream-lining the process and taking the pain and frustration out of being online.
I initially found it very difficult, frustrating, time and money consuming. However, with experience, time and the great people I’ve met online, I’ve been able to find easier ways to get a website and blog up and running….
So, if you’re interested, I want to share with you, especially via my “Mini-lessons“, also known as (aka) my blog, the information and experiences I gained from these people, books, courses and webinars I’ve met in the virtual world. And as you move through this site you’ll find links to these people with their books and courses, just in case you’re interested in learning about these things in greater depth.
With regards to my posts (aka: my mini-lessons) & pages, my aim is to write in clear, simple, plain English so that whether you are a non-techy, senior citizen or are learning English as a second or foreign language, or are a tired, still-working-late-into-the-night-EFL/ESL/ESOL teacher,trainer,coach (think I’ve included everyone now) - you, too, can have access to the benefits of Web 2.0 website, blog & online market creation.
Also, I will try to answer your questions on how to easily create a blog or website, as well as respond to your queries about setting up your site or blog for online marketing.
Therefore, since I am talking, sharing & answering questions on the wide variety of topics included in this vast field of website/blog/online marketing creation, I decided to name my blog “mini-lessons” and provide you with a variety of nuggets of useful information as I can access it, sift it, digest it, and simply, clearly present it to you.
On the “pages” where you see “Easiest”, Easier”, etc. I plan to present theses topics in a course-style syllabus. For now, I’m going to prepare tasty bite-size chunks – later, you’ll get the full course meal! (Heh, Rome wasn’t built in a day!)
So, now, it’s your turn to talk (finally! you say). Please, take a second and write for me in the message box below: your most important question about easily creating a blog or website.
I’ll try to answer them soon in the various posts, aka here, mini-lessons. And hopefully, all of you reading these pages will share your own experiences and best practices in creating websites and blogs.
So, thanks and I look forward to chatting with you!
Eileen
(Wow! Did I write a lot! Is that the effects of “old media”?)