It’s not easy to get a website started, technically speaking, nor is it easy to build a site that represents who you are and who you’d like to connect with. Perhaps part of the difficulty is having an awareness regarding who you are and what your community is seeking? For that reason, I built a workshop series through the recently launched Naropa University student group entitled The Naropa Network to help students, alumni and faculty build confidence and understanding around search engine optimization for the contemplative community. Below is an online version of this 3-part series entitled Create Your Online Brand led by yours truly and Whitney Gaffari.
WORKSHOP 1: BUILDING AWARENESS & PRESENCE – WITH INTEGRITY – IN AN ONLINE SPACE
Uncover powerful ways to offer your inherent strengths & unique gifts to your community. Deepen & expand the connection with your audience with integrity and possibility.
Homework Recap
- Slide Presentation Link (Workshop 1: Building Awareness & Presence – With Integrity – In an Online Space)
- Workshop 1: Exercise & Assignment Sheet
- Describe Yourself & How You’d Like To Show Up Online (box 1 of the assignment sheet)
- Set up a news aggregator on your desktop and/or mobile device (we recommend Feedly). Add websites, hashtags, categories, Google alerts, etc. that you’d like to listen to over the next few weeks. (note what you are following in box 2 of the assignment sheet).
- Follow 5 Thought Leaders on a social platform of your choosing (make sure to add these thought leaders to your news aggregator to make listening easy and note these in box 2 of the assignment sheet)
- Review your news aggregator once a week. Notice what inspires you, article titles that sound interesting, subjects of interest, FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), sites you like and why, etc. (box 3 of the assignment sheet).
- For our next workshop bring 1-3 written pieces you’d like to translate into online content. This can include a class paper, an informative email or even a blog post you already have as we’ll be looking at ways to optimize online content in our next class.
WORKSHOP 2: CREATING POWERFUL AND MEANINGFUL ONLINE CONTENT
Transform your content to best serve & meet your needs & the needs of your online audience.
Homework Recap
- Slide Presentation Link (Workshop 2: Creating Powerful and Meaningful Content Online)
- Naropa Network “Blogging Tips” Sheet
- Workshop 2 – Exercise Sheet (Dissect Your Content)
- Start sharing content & resources from your community! (we recommend Buffer as a sharing tool)
- Choose your website domain name (to check if your domain is available, visit Whois.com)
- Choose a site template from SEO Themes.
- Craft 1-3 posts using the content optimization skills discussed in our second workshop.
- Submit the required information listed below by 4/5 in order to launch your website at our next workshop 4/19.
WORKSHOP 3: LAUNCHING YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE
Build, design & launch your online presence in a strategic way that ensures rewarding personal and professional outcomes. (This is an in-person workshop where, once required data is submitted, we will help you launch your website)
As always, please feel free to leave a comment below with any questions or musings or resources you have. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and insights and finding unique ways to empower the collective voice of Naropa University online <3