The IT girl's guide to blogging with Moxie

314 Pages·2007·13.623 MB·English

by  Scoleri, Katherine;Reeder, Joelle

01_168004 ffirs.qxp 8/30/07 10:41 PM Page iii
Guide to
Blogging
Moxie
with
by Joelle Reeder
and
Katherine Scoleri
01_168004 ffirs.qxp 8/30/07 10:41 PM Page ii
01_168004 ffirs.qxp 8/30/07 10:41 PM Page i
Guide to
Blogging
Moxie
with
01_168004 ffirs.qxp 8/30/07 10:41 PM Page ii
01_168004 ffirs.qxp 8/30/07 10:41 PM Page iii
Guide to
Blogging
Moxie
with
by Joelle Reeder
and
Katherine Scoleri
01_168004 ffirs.qxp 8/30/07 10:41 PM Page iv
The IT Girl’s™Guide to Blogging with Moxie
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
111 River Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2007 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108
of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization
through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers,
MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone]. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the
Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, [phone], fax (317)
572-4355, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Trademarks:Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, the IT Girl’s logo, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered
trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used
without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is
not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REP-
RESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE
CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIM-
ITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR
EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED
HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTAND-
ING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFES-
SIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT
PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE
LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE IS
REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMA-
TION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE
ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READ-
ERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR
DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ.
For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the
U.S. at 800-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax [phone].
For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available
in electronic books.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2007934460
ISBN: 978-0-470-16800-4
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
01_168004 ffirs.qxp 8/30/07 10:41 PM Page v
About the Authors A
b
The Moxie Girls, Joelle Reeder o
and Katherine Scoleri, are like
u
vodka and olives — tasty on their
t
own, but even better together. As

pioneers in the blog design mar- t
ket, Joelle and Kathy have been h
designing stylish blogs and web- e
sites as Moxie Design Studios

since February 2003. A
u
Joelle Reeder has been blog-
ging since January 2003. As the author of personal blog Tenth-Muse.com, t
h
Joelle’s descriptive and humorous writing style quickly earned her a loyal
readership of both women and men, resulting in thousands of visitors a day. o
Designing websites since 1996, Joelle’s unique and bold style caught the
r
attention of many a blogger, so joining forces with Kathy to form Moxie
s
Design Studios was only natural!
Kathy Scoleristarted blogging in 2001 under the guise of PixelSphinx.com.
Kathy now authors the blog PinkMartinis.com, where she discusses the com-
edy that is her life as a new mother and busy designer. Kathy has maintained
her vast readership over the years and enjoys comments from a wide variety
of readers — everyone from long-time blogging friends to people looking for
the other half of The Moxie Girls. Kathy started teaching herself HTML back
in 1998 and built a career as a website and blog designer. Her clean, slick
style is the perfect complement to Joelle’s fun, bold flare, making this team
invincible.
Moxie Design Studios launched to a huge response, and they’ve been busy
ever since! In a time when blog design consisted of boxy default templates and
simple banners with pictures of celebrities, the Moxie Girls pushed the enve-
lope with fresh, unique, and completely personalized concepts for blog design.
The success of their personal blogs, as well as their business, led to the launch
of their extremely popular diet and fitness blog, PutDowntheDonut.com, fea-
tured in a national women’s magazine by the Lifetime Network, in 2004. The
Moxie Girls are part of several professional blogging and design networks, are
select members of the EllisLab Advisory Board, and have been notably
mentioned on national radio program Air America. They’ve also been inter-
viewed by several websites and have been speakers at high-profile industry
conferences such as South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) in Austin, Texas.
Joelle resides in San Diego, California. When she’s not designing websites,
you can find her singing jazz standards, soaking in a bubble bath, or master-
ing the art of the cocktail. Kathy splits her time between Atlanta, Georgia, and
Palm Beach, Florida, where she enjoys picking her son’s Cheerios out of her
hair, getting a pedicure, or coming up with things to mix with champagne.
01_168004 ffirs.qxp 8/30/07 10:41 PM Page vi
01_168004 ffirs.qxp 8/30/07 10:42 PM Page vii
Authors’ Acknowledgments A
u
t
Joelle Would Like to Thank . . . h
o
First and foremost, I’d like to thank my best friend, business partner, and r
co-author of this book, Kathy Scoleri. You make starting every day so s
much fun, and I couldn’t possibly ask for a better friend. You’re the cream ’

in my sugar-free, non-fat, hazelnut coffee. It’s been nothing short of an
A
honor to be your other half.
c
The following people put a spring in my step, and if I didn’t have their sup- k
port, none of this would have been accomplished: To Heika Muller, thank n
you for your continued love and confidence in me and for putting up with
o
my shenanigans all these years. To Michael Sampaga, thank you for being
one of my dearest friends, for being the kind, giving man you are, and of w
course, for killing all the spiders. I have to give kudos to Peter Zielinski for
l
knowing how to push allmy buttons and still managing to remain the clos- e
est friend I’ve never met. And to Ross Lawson, thank you for being so
d
wonderfully in tune, for listening, and for letting me be myself. Thank you
g
Internet.
m
Finally, I’d like to thank my parents, Jamia and Jerry. I can only hope that
I’ve made you as proud as I am of having had you as my mom and dad. e
n
Kathy Would Like to Thank . . . t
s
At the risk of sounding like an actor making her acceptance speech at the
Oscars . . . I would like to thank my co-author, business partner, and friend
Joelle Reeder. Without her immaculate sense of grammar, her creativity,
and her imagination, this book would not have been possible. I value our
friendship, and it has been a great pleasure to write this book with you.
I would like to thank my family and friends for their endless support and
unabashed pride in what I do. I’d like to thank my husband, Steven Scoleri,
for his help, support, and love during the writing process and for being one
of my biggest fans. Thank you to my son, Reilly Scoleri. Even though you
are only a toddler, your love and smiles made the stressful days bearable
and the goal worth it. Last and certainly not least, I would like to thank my
mother, Carol McClenin, for being my biggest cheerleader during the writ-
ing of this book and in everything I do. It is you who have made me strive
to do great things with my life no matter how big or small. Your confidence
in my talents, your encouragement, and your love are some of my most
cherished possessions. Oh, and thanks for babysitting.
01_168004 ffirs.qxp 8/30/07 10:42 PM Page viii