CERTIFICATE Use this course to earn a certificate in Ad Copywriting.

DETAILS

From information gathering to shopping to wanting to connect or be entertained, more and more of our daily interactions take place online. This class will focus on the craft, style, and strategy of writing compelling brand copy for the web.

Through weekly assignments, you'll learn how to carry concepts past headlines, recreate real-life sensations online, and craft copy that lingers in the consciousness long after the user has left a site. Copywriters new or seasoned will find techniques to move effective communication from the printed page to the Web and mobile devices.

In this class, you will learn how to:

• Write benefit-driven web copy that's both engaging and succinct
• Create copy for social networks and curated content for branded communities
• Talk with art directors about new digital options
• Figure out which media (traditional or new) is best for your marketing message
• Adapt your style for social media messaging, mobile content, or a proper landing page

By the end of class, you will have:
Experience (and portfolio samples) to apply to web, mobile and social media copywriting.

• Lessons: Learn new skills through written lessons
• Discussions: Join a weekly live, interactive discussion via IM and video
• Assignments: Complete homework and receive instructor feedback
• Forums: Exchange resources, meet peers, and ask your instructor questions

CERTIFICATE Use this course to earn a certificate in Digital Marketing, Ad Copywriting, and Social Media Marketing.

DETAILS

If you don't come up at the top of a search, your audience may never find you.

This course will teach you how to use SEO and search marketing, social media, and digital outreach methods to drive traffic to your website. You'll also learn how to optimize your sites for search engines and how social media exposure and links can leverage more exposure on Google and other search engines.

In this class, you will learn how to:

• Understand the difference between SEO and SEM
• Determine the most important factors of search rankings
• Report on web traffic and keep your website code clean
• Reach out to bloggers and other webmasters to have them link to your site
• Manage SEO and social media projects

By the end of class, you will have:
An understanding of the factors that can get your website to the top of search engine results, and how to use social media and search marketing to drive traffic to your website.

• Lessons: Learn new skills through video-based lessons
• Discussion: Join a weekly live, interactive discussion via IM and video
• Assignments: Complete homework and receive instructor feedback
• Forums: Exchange resources, meet peers, and ask your instructor questions

DETAILS

Learn how to connect with other bloggers via social media efforts, continue to maintain your blog so search engines rank its relevancy, and how to write for the search engines.

We'll also review how to use your blog to leverage new career opportunities -- be it speaking on a panel, publishing an ebook, or consulting for major brands.

In this class, you will learn how to:

• Read analytics reports and interpret key performance indicators
• Use effective tagging, SEO writing, and responding to comments
• Integrate social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube) 
• Monetize your blog through ads, sponsorships, affiliates, and digital products by packaging your overall brand
• Leverage your blog toward a larger platform, such as publishing, speaking, and consulting

By the end of class, you will have:
An understanding of how to use analytics to improve your content and a content plan for increasing traffic and exposure.

The online classroom has several components:

• Lessons: Learn new skills through video-based lessons
• Discussion: Join a weekly live, interactive discussion via IM and video
• Assignments: Complete homework and receive instructor feedback
• Forums: Exchange resources, meet peers, and ask your instructor questions

DETAILS

Writers and editors need to create and edit content online, but thanks to advanced content management systems, you don’t need programming knowledge to do it.

Whether you are looking to implement a content management system, or CMS, for a personal project or need to get up to speed for your job, this class will give you hands-on experience working with WordPress and Drupal, two of the leading content management systems. You'll learn and practice the standard features you’ll encounter in any content management system.  

In this class, you will learn how to:

• Navigate WordPress and Drupal
• Make the most of the features of a WYSIWYG editor
• Prepare and publish online content, incorporating links, photos, keywords, and related content
• Use shortcuts and additional features to get the most out of a CMS
• Understand the differences among content management platforms, and how to know which is right for you

By the end of class, you will have:
A thorough understanding of how to navigate a content management system and experience creating, editing, and publishing content.

CERTIFICATE Use this course to earn a certificate in Ad Copywriting.

DETAILS

In this class, you'll learn essential copywriting terms and techniques. If you're already working as a writer or copywriter, you'll learn from a new perspective while you complete creative assignments to expand your portfolio. Class will mimic working in an ad agency to build a varied portfolio.

Class will also include two visits from a graphic designer who will show you how to render your work into professional-looking, portfolio-ready ads.

In this class, you will learn how to:

• Work with graphics and photos to make a complete ad
• Write benefit-driven headlines and body copy 
• Write for various advertising media: print, collateral, web, outdoor, and direct mail
• Write and work from a creative brief
• Jumpstart your ad portfolio and look for jobs

By the end of class, you will have:
Experience drafting copy in a fast-paced environment, and polished ad writing examples to include in your copywriting portfolio.

The online classroom has several components:

• Lessons: Learn new skills through video-based lessons
• Discussion: Join a weekly live, interactive discussion via IM and video
• Assignments: Complete homework and receive instructor feedback
• Forums: Exchange resources, meet peers, and ask your instructor questions

CERTIFICATE Use this course to earn a certificate in Digital Project Management and Social Media Marketing.

DETAILS

CERTIFICATE Use this course to earn a certificate in Digital Marketing and Public Relations.

DETAILS

Learn how to build and manage qualified distribution lists in a way that engages your users -- without spamming them. We'll discuss how to design email templates to best support your brand while including and following the proper legal disclaimers. You'll also learn how to use analytics tools to monitor campaign engagement and effectiveness as well as ways to respect your users’ privacy while introducing them to your products or services.

In this class, you will learn how to: 

• Create and manage distribution lists, including resources for mass mailings
• Evaluate optimal time, date, and frequency to decrease unsubscribes and increase your open rate 
• Develop and execute copywriting and design techniques, including subject lines
• Integrate social media tools into email campaigns to function as a part of your overall digital strategy
• Prevent blacklisting from servers

By the end of class, you will have:
An email campaign designed to build traffic and increase sales.

The online classroom has several components:

• Lessons: Learn new skills through video-based lessons
• Discussion: Join a weekly live, interactive discussion via IM and video
• Assignments: Complete homework and receive instructor feedback
• Forums: Exchange resources, meet peers, and ask your instructor questions

DETAILS

In this intensive workshop, limited to 12 students, memoirist Kelly McMasters will help you hone your story arc, character development, setting, voice, point of view, level of diction, and every other element of your manuscript. Each week you will receive detailed feedback as you work toward polishing your sample chapters or manuscript for submission to agents.

By the end of class, you will have:
At least three polished sample chapters ready to submit to agents with your book proposal.

This class is purely workshop-based and does not contain written lectures.

Admission Requirements:
Students should come to class with a working manuscript. Apply with a letter of interest and writing sample.

• Discussions: Join a weekly live, interactive discussion via video
• Assignments: Complete homework and receive instructor feedback
• Forums: Exchange resources, meet peers, and ask your instructor questions

CERTIFICATE Use this course to earn a certificate in Digital Project Management.

DETAILS

In this course, you’ll complete a comprehensive SEO audit of your current website and develop a strategic plan to get your website to the top of search engine results. You’ll also learn how to measure and sustain your marketing efforts to continually improve your search engine optimization program. 

Advanced techniques included in the coursework include using location-based metatags to ensure that your content can be easily found and using analytics to track the effectiveness of your strategies. You’ll learn how to integrate web tools with your site, analyze the effectiveness of keywords, and complete assessments of your bounce rate and entrance and exit paths. We’ll discuss how to use social media strategies and other tactics to manage your online reputation management. You’ll also learn about recent changes in search strategy spurred by Google + and Google’s new Panda and Penguin algorithm updates.

In this class, you will learn how to:

• Use keyword tools to determine the most effective keywords for your content 
• Implement link strategies that widen your site’s reach
• Use the Google suite of tools to work with your site: Analytics, Webmaster Tools, Keyword Tool
• Perform an SEO audit and a competitor analysis
• Understand how search algorithms function

By the end of class, you will have:
A comprehensive strategic plan to continue to measure and develop your search engine optimization expertise.

Admission Requirements:
This course is recommended for people who have a working knowledge of SEO techniques or have taken SEO Writing. Apply with a note to explain your interest in this topic and your previous experience.

The online classroom has several components:

• Lessons: Learn new skills through video-based lessons
• Discussion: Join a weekly live, interactive discussion via IM and video
• Assignments: Complete homework and receive instructor feedback
• Forums: Exchange resources, meet peers, and ask your instructor questions

DETAILS

From Glamour to Good Housekeeping to theknot.com, women's magazines and websites are among the most lucrative and high-profile markets. In this intensive workshop, you will learn how to wow editors with the stories they want (and need).

Each week, you'll produce a different story, each a type of article that is a mainstay at women's magazines and websites. You'll also workshop pitch letters, editing them to perfection to ensure they get read by editors. Your goal in this class is to pitch articles immediately after workshopping them. The pieces that you will complete include a short service piece, a Q & A, a health article, a personal essay, a long service piece, and a human interest piece (an "as told to" or narrative).

In this class, you will learn how to:

• Write in the voice of the magazine or website in which you want to be published
• Know which sections are easiest to break into and are most "freelancer-friendly"
• Find sources
• Rewrite and self-edit
• Connect with other writers in the industry

By the end of class, you will have:
A complete portfolio of publishable articles that will impress any editor.

Students who have taken this class have been published in:
Real Simple, For Me, Woman's Day, Self, Seventeen, Pregnancy, Fit Pregnancy, Everyday with Rachael Ray, Cooking Light, and Redbook.

The online classroom has several components:

• Lessons: Learn new skills through video-based lessons
• Discussion: Join a weekly live, interactive discussion via IM and video
• Assignments: Complete homework and receive instructor feedback
• Forums: Exchange resources, meet peers, and ask your instructor questions

CERTIFICATE Use this course to earn a certificate in Ad Copywriting.

DETAILS

• Lessons: Learn new skills through video-based lessons
• Discussions: Join a weekly live, interactive discussion via IM and video
• Assignments: Complete homework and receive instructor feedback
• Forums: Exchange resources, meet peers, and ask your instructor questions

DETAILS

In this class, you will learn how to manage the tricky process of writing a nonfiction book from an instructor who has overseen the development of nonfiction titles of all kinds, including memoir, narrative journalism, self-help, social and political issue, business, and narrative nonfiction.

Find out where to start, how to stay motivated, how to write for a specific audience, and how to establish a powerful voice. You'll get guidance while receiving invaluable feedback on your writing. Class will be a combination of lectures and weekly manuscript workshops.

In this class, you will learn how to:

• Research your topic efficiently and effectively
• Create a dramatic structure that makes your book a page turner
• Find and sustain the right voice
• Distinguish your book in a crowded marketplace
• Navigate the publishing industry

Students who have taken this class have published:
Too Good to Be True: The Rise and Fall of Bernie Madoff (Penguin), The Creative Girl's Guide To Having It All: How to Brave the Odds and Make Your Way in a Creative Career (Perseus/Running Press), Something New: Wedding Etiquette for Rule Breakers, Traditionalists, and Everyone In Between (Simon Spotlight), Escape from Corporate America: A Practical Guide to Creating the Career of Your Dreams (Ballantine), and Read My Hips (Harmony)

The online classroom has several components:

• Lessons: Learn new skills through written lessons
• Discussion: Join a weekly live, interactive discussion via IM and video
• Assignments: Complete homework and receive instructor feedback
• Forums: Exchange resources, meet peers, and ask your instructor questions

DETAILS

Are you struggling to make the transition from print to digital sales? With advertising budgets going increasingly online and mobile, this course will teach you the skills you need to stay ahead of the game. Learn the fundamentals of digital sales, including how ads are delivered and priced and how performance is tracked. You will develop a deeper understanding of industry terminology, standards, and trends. You’ll be able to craft competitive digital proposals and successfully manage their delivery.

In this class, you will learn how to:

• Create and sell competitive digital proposals
• Understand industry terminology, standards, and trends
• Analyze and measure the performance of ad campaigns
• Understand the client POV to create effective proposals
• Manage research and creative for digital ad campaigns

By the end of class, you will have:
A framework in place for selling digital ad campaigns.

The online classroom has several components:

• Lessons: Learn new skills through video-based lessons
• Discussion: Join a weekly live, interactive discussion via IM and video
• Assignments: Complete homework and receive instructor feedback
• Forums: Exchange resources, meet peers, and ask your instructor questions

DETAILS

• Lessons: Learn new skills through video-based lessons
• Discussions: Join a weekly live, interactive discussion via IM and video
• Assignments: Complete homework and receive instructor feedback
• Forums: Exchange resources, meet peers, and ask your instructor questions

DETAILS

The op-ed page is the most sought-after real estate in any publication, with more venues for your work as newspapers, magazines, websites, and blogs expand first-person content. Op-eds provide an opportunity for you to showcase great writing while laying out forceful arguments. This class will show you how to write powerful op-ed pieces that will make your voice heard in print, online, and around the world.

In this class, you will learn how to:

• Conceive and structure a convincing op-ed
• Organize your thoughts to present the best argument possible
• Decide which topics have the most impact
• Use first-person technique to write an engaging essay
• Make a pitch editors will notice

By the end of class, you will have:
Three op-ed pieces, pitch letters, and ideas on where to pitch.

Students who have taken this class have been published in:
Huffington Post, the Los Angeles Times, NY Post, NY Daily News, The New York Times, the Washington Post, and Newsweek.

The online classroom has several components:

• Lessons: Learn new skills through written lessons
• Discussions: Join a weekly live, interactive discussion via IM and video
• Assignments: Complete homework and receive instructor feedback
• Forums: Exchange resources, meet peers, and ask your instructor questions

CERTIFICATE Use this course to earn a certificate in Public Relations.

DETAILS

In PR, the relationships you create with editors, reporters, bloggers, and producers can make or break your next campaign.

Learn how to target and pitch top media outlets and events, prep your client for appearances and interviews to make sure their message gets through, and establish your clients as reliable sources to ensure repeat bookings and interviews.

In this class, you will learn how to:

• Pitch contacts using media lists, online databases, blogs, and social media
• Understand what producers, news editors, and segment bookers look for
• Master the media interview, from understanding types of interviews to developing questions and responses
• Develop and write briefing documents and talking points that keep your client on message
• Follow up to land repeat appearances and build lasting relationships

By the end of class, you will have:
A tailored media list, along with a custom pitch, briefing document, and sample questions and answers.

The online classroom has several components:

• Lessons: Learn new skills through written lessons
• Discussion: Join a weekly live, interactive discussion via IM and video
• Assignments: Complete homework and receive instructor feedback
• Forums: Exchange resources, meet peers, and ask your instructor questions

DETAILS

Nonfiction books -- a market easier to break into than fiction -- are the backbone of publishing. Whether self-help, travel, health, memoir, business, current affairs, or any other number of categories, there's no shortage of readers for nonfiction that teaches, transforms, and captivates readers interested in a particular subject.

In this class, you'll learn how to convey your idea in a winning book proposal and why taking the time to do so will make or break your chances of getting it noticed and sold. You'll also learn what is appropriate for writers who have an idea for a book, but would like to know the complete and correct execution of this vital marketing product.

In this class, you will learn how to:

• Identify whether your idea is a good one
• Think through the essential ingredients of a book proposal
• Format the proposal
• Write your proposal letter
• Understand the nuts and bolts of the nonfiction publishing industry

By the end of class, you will have:
A marketable nonfiction book proposal package ready to send out to agents, including a query letter and sample chapter.

Students who have taken this class have published with:
Simon and Schuster, Perseus/Running Press, and Simon Spotlight.

DETAILS

In this intensive workshop -- limited to 12 students -- a former senior editor at Random House will help you hone your story arc, character development, setting, voice, point of view, level of diction, and every element of your manuscript. Each week you will receive detailed feedback as you work toward polishing your manuscript for submission to agents and book publishers.

Weekly chat topics include how to:

• Develop your platform 
• Know what agents and editors are looking for when they consider your manuscript
• Craft an attention-grabbing query letter and practice your pitch
• Decide if self-publishing or traditional publishing is right for you

By the end of class, you will have:
Up to 80 polished pages of your novel, a query letter, and steps for submitting them to literary agents.

This class is purely workshop-based and does not contain written lectures.

Admission Requirements:
This class is for students working toward a polished manuscript. Apply with a note to explain your interest in this topic and goals for the course. Please include a two-page writing sample.

The online classroom has several components:

• Discussion: Join a weekly live, interactive discussion via IM and video
• Assignments: Complete homework and receive instructor feedback
• Forums: Exchange resources, meet peers, and ask your instructor questions

DETAILS

In just three years since its launch, Pinterest has grown to 48.7 million users. If your brand isn’t properly reaching this audience, you’re missing out on a great marketing opportunity on the social visual platform.

In this webcast, Jennifer Gaonach, the former digital consumer marketing director for Conde Nast, will show you how her team has used Pinterest to reach new audiences as she presents a case study of Epicurious.com. 

You'll learn how to:

• Understand the key metrics of this marketing platform
• Create a Pinterest playbook
• Become a member of the Pinterest community
• Expand growth through group boards, sweepstakes, and contests
• Use new and upcoming features to stay ahead of the competition and get your content noticed by your audience

How this works:

• You'll participate in a live video discussion with an expert speaker who will provide insights, case studies, and real-world examples of strategies that have worked
• You'll have the chance to ask questions and get advice from the speaker in real time
• You'll receive a copy of the speaker's presentation slides and access to a recording of the presentation

DETAILS

Though we can't promise that your novel will sell 10 million copies like 50 Shades of Grey, we can help you write a smart, polished manuscript that will appeal to agents, editors, and readers.

In this class, you'll read sample chapters from successful romance novels and learn the elements of historical, contemporary, paranormal, and erotic romance to find your perfect niche in the current marketplace. You'll complete a working draft of your romance novel, all while receiving expert, personal feedback from one of the genre's stars.

In this class, you will learn how to:

• Build emotional and sexual tension quickly and effectively
• Create compelling characters, from heroes to villains
• Write sparkling dialogue that drives the plot, develops characters and heightens tension
• Revise, cut, and tighten your manuscript
• Find an agent and market your book and brand

By the end of class, you will have:
A working draft of your romance novel manuscript.

The online classroom has several components:

• Lessons: Learn new skills through written lessons
• Discussion: Join a weekly live, interactive discussion via IM and video
• Assignments: Complete homework and receive instructor feedback
• Forums: Exchange resources, meet peers, and ask your instructor questions