I’ve been criticized for lots of things I have written, but this is the first time someone used 3,764 words to tear me apart for something I did not write.

The Backround: You can read all about why Jason Jones, the lawyer from Chicago behind the Salty Droid persona and the guy who seemingly insists anyone who makes money online is a criminal, is mad at me in his piece. I’m not going into a blow-by-blow response for one simple reason:

I don’t care.

Here are three reasons why Jason Jones a.k.a. Salty Droid can write whatever the fuck he wants about me.

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This is me talking about "Reporting for Bloggers" at BlogWorld East 2012 last week.

After a successful stint speaking at Blogworld & New Media Expo in New York last week (see this flattering write up of my “Reporting for Bloggers” presentation on their site), I’m hoping to speak at their next conference in Las Vegas in January. So much so I’ve already submitted a proposal for my presentation, which will once again be in the content creation tract:

Ten Blog Posts That Got Shared, Informed Readers, Generated Clicks and Kicked Ass In 2012: Writing instructor and pro blogger Dave Copeland will take a look at 10 of the best blog posts from 2012 and discuss why they worked: both in informing readers and in generating clicks and shares. The goal of the session is to show bloggers what works when they write for online audiences and what pitfalls they need to avoid. The truly brave participants will be invited to share their favorite post from their own blog for an in-session critique by Copeland.

Session Takeaways:

1) Simple techniques to develop habits for great online writing.
2) Writing a compelling headline then making good on the promise delivered in that headline.
3) Making your words “visual” so readers can quickly navigate your copy and easily find the information they need.

So here’s where I need your help: if you write or read a blog post worth consideration for this session (as well as sessions I’ll be doing in my Writing For Online Readers class at Bridgewater State University this fall), email me a link. I’ll leave it to you to decide what qualifies as best: most readable, most fun to write, most traffic, etc. Also send a sentence or two explaining why you think it’s the best. The more examples I can get, the better.

In return, I’ll share any common themes and patterns I see in them to see if we can start putting together a best practices list.

I’ll be following this up later with a detailed how-to post, but for now here is the Prezi for the talk I’m giving today at 2:30 at BlogWorld East in New York City. The session topic is Reporting For Bloggers and will cover some of the basics in sourcing original information for your blog posts.

Remember, you can get 10% off BlogWorld East Registration heading over to the registration page and enter this code at checkout: BDavidC10. The conference runs through Thursday at the Jacob Javitz Center in New York and coveres admission to the Book Expo America as well.

I’m once again presenting at BlogWorld East in New York. This year I’ll be leading a session on “Reporting For Bloggers.” The conference runs Tuesday through Thursday at the Jacob Javitz Center and my session is at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Find out how you can get 10 off BlogWorld East Registration.

What follows is a recap of the “Writing For Online Readers” session I led at BlogWorld East 2011. I’ve published this in various forms before but the basics are always worth a review:

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I’m reading David Wong’s Cracked.com post on “5 Ways To Spot a B.S. Political Headline In Under 10 Seconds” and laughing out loud.

But I’m also a little worried.

I’m a recovering print journalist and generally love my new life as an online journalist, but I’ll admit the link-baiting headlines all of us are guilty of writing every now and again still make me squeamish. Wong is looking at how the mainstream media writes headlines for political stories where it is committing journalism: in other words, stories where the reporter and editor try to turn a dog-bites-man story into a man-bites-dog story.

But the more I read, the more I realize a lot of his b.s. detection rules could apply to most any of us writing online, regardless of the topic. The headlines in question are almost always the product of lazy research, an effort to generate a story or a buzz where none (should) exist.
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I’m speaking at Blog World East in New York  next month. It’s my second straight year presenting at one of the biggest gathering for bloggers, and this year I’ll be leading a session on Reporting for Bloggers. The goal is to give bloggers ways to report and create original content within their niche instead of just blasting the same tired headlines around the echo chamber.

Now you can get 10% off registration by using a special registration code. Just head over to the registration page and enter this code at checkout: BDavidC10

I have spoken at and/or attended more than a doze conferences since the start of 2011 and this one was by far the most useful, most informative and most fun. I’m not exaggerating in saying BlogWorld East kicked my career into high gear, but they also have sessions that cater to the casual and corporate blogger.