Lesson 7: Prepare the Content

Before you head down the path of creating and building the structure for your club blog / website, you should gather a minimum of content and supporting graphics and material. 

What will you need?

• A rough diagram of the look of your site ... draw it free hand on some paper and write appropriate notes.
• The banner graphic for the top header space of your site.
• The text for at least three articles, and at least one picture or photo file for each article..  These can be articles dated before, on or after the date that the website becomes public. 
• The text, artwork and photographs for each static page that will be added to the website.
• Electronic copies of club collateral ... newsletters or bulletins, brochures, flyers, forms, etc.
• Bundle material into downloadable ZIP files if that makes sense ... like a collection of club newsletters for each Optimist year.
• Copies of resource material that will be valuable to club members.
• Artwork and photographs ... lots of them from the recent past.
• Links to other websites and online resources that you will want to include.

Sub-Lessons

This Lesson includes 7 sub-lessons:

• Lesson 7.1:  Free software tools for creating and working with text files, graphics, PDF, and archive files.
• Lesson 7.2:  Tips on writing effective blog posts.
• Lesson 7.3:  How to prepare TXT files.
• Lesson 7.4:  How to prepare PDF files.
• Lesson 7.5:  How to create ZIP files.
• Lesson 7.6:  How to create a banner graphic.
• Lesson 7.7:  Some tips for creating graphics.