Using This Site

admin — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 01:08:16 -0500

Congratulations, you've found your way to BlogHer, the blogging community for women! We invite you to join us to gain additional exposure for your blogs and your ideas, (that's our mission). With more than 13,000 members and 10,000 blogs on our blog list, we're all working together to create a community that is fun, informative and supportive.

We're proud to announce some great new features and are happy to provide you with a Top 10 List that will help jumpstart your BlogHer experience. Here goes:

10 Ways to Jumpstart Your BlogHer Experience

1) Register: Every Website says this, and you're probably tired of hearing it, but it's true. You really do want to register because when you register you'll be able to list your blog, create your own BlogHer content, interact with all the fabulous people who create content for BlogHer and all the wonderful community members who lend their support and their wisdom. That's right, YOU can Blog at BlogHer, as of July 23, 2007!

2) List your blog: After you've registered, you'll want to list your blog(s) so it will appear in the BlogHer blog directory. Here's how: Click the purple "Create Content" button at the top right side of the page and click "List a Blog". Make sure to select topic(s) that your blog is really about. Once our editors review it, (We have to be careful, we don't want to build SpamHer), your blog will appear in the "blogs" tag within the Topic(s) you selected. (NOTE: If BlogHer's ediitors feel you've misfiled your blog, we'll change it.) While you're creating that weblink, don't forget to include a really good description of your blog when you list it. This blog description can either lure people into your blog or lull them to sleep, which would you prefer?

3) Create a profile and Introduce yourself: Now that you've registered and you've listed your blog(s), the next step is to create a fab profile. Click the purple "My Profile" button at the top right side of the page and then click "tag profile". At the top of that page you'll see three links, "Account Settings", "Basic Profile", and "Tag Profile". Click the "Tag Profile" link and look at all of the information you are now able to share. (NOTE: This information is public so if there's something there that you don't want the world to know, like your postal code or phone number, leave it blank or put something really generic into that field.) You can even include the RSS feed for your personal blog. Be sure to upload a photograph of yourself or an icon that really represents YOU because that photo or icon is going to be visible all over BlogHer's Web site. On the front page, you'll be visible in the "What BlogHers are Doing" section. Instant fame! This means people who click into your profile from your blog posts, comments, the "What BlogHers are Doing" module and the Member Directory will be able to get to your personal blogs quickly and easily.

Now it's time to introduce yourself. The server might know you've arrived but nobody else will until you step into the spotlight and introduce yourself in the forums. Don't forget to include your blog in your post or in your signature. You do want people to come and visit your blog, don't you? (FYI: There's a signature block feature within your profile. If you missed it, click "My Profile" on the top right corner and scroll down to "signature". HTML is accepted in this box so you can pretty your signature up, if you like. )

4) Read blogs and talk back: Our Contributing Editors, (often referred to as "CEs"), and community members are amazing human beings who have a lot to share. You can surf BlogHer blog content by checking out the home page or by clicking into Topics. The default page brings you blog posts written by BlogHer's amazing CEs. You'll notice tabs at the top of those pages - one for the "editor posts" and one that says "all blog posts" where you can find blog entries written by both BlogHer CEs and BlogHer community members. You can even click the "most viewed" tab and find out which blog posts have been most popular! We've learned that all of that great blog reading may entice you to comment and we hope you will. We want to know what you think - and to help introduce you to other people who would like to get to know you and click back to your blog, either through your profile or signature.
**Edited 3/27/8: We now have comment notification via email on BlogHer. Be sure to read about that and get it set up properly in your account settings.

5) Start blogging on BlogHer: Look up at the top right corner again and click the purple button that says "Create Content". On the next menu, select "Personal Blog Entry" and start blogging! (Here's a link that provides tips for using the new rich text editor, launched on 3/27/8.) Make sure to choose the appropriate topic in the drop down menu (for multiple topic selection, hold down the CTRL key and highlight additional topics as needed.) You don't want your fabulous post about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to appear under the Health & Wellness category - unless of course you're post is about an unfortunate wizarding mishap. When you publish your blog post, you'll be able to find it on the front page immediately, in the "All blog posts" tab. You'll also find it in the "All blog posts" tab under the topic area(s) you selected. And remember our mission – don’t be shy about posting about a terrific post you made on your own blog about a topic! We recommend you blog the headline, the first couple of sentences and then link back to your blog for the full read. (Note: If BlogHer’s editors think you’ve misfiled a post, we’ll change it. And we rarely see posts that we think should be tagged in every single topic, so thanks for being picky.)

6) Subscribe: You can subscribe to newsletters that will allow you to keep your finger on the pulse of what women bloggers are thinking and doing. You'll never be out of the loop again. If newsletters aren't your thing, (You're all about Web 2.0 aren't you?), RSS is here. We have RSS feeds for every area of BlogHer - from the front page to the forums, to you yourself and anything you blog on BlogHer!

7) Play with tags: If you look on the left side of BlogHer's Web site, just beneath the Topics list, you'll see a section called "Tags". Tags are a bit like keywords. CEs and members tag their content to help link content together. This makes it easy for you to find every single bit of content available on BlogHer related to that keyword. The "tag list" is created based on the most recently used tags. When you're creating blog posts on BlogHer, be sure to type "free tags" that will help others find your content when they are searching the site. Here’s an example: If you’re blogging a movie review, you’ll choose the topic “Entertainment & Books” but we also recommend you tag the review with the movie name and perhaps even the star’s name to make sure it gets picked up by people interested in the topic.

8) Share with others: You'll probably notice pretty quickly that there is a brand new link at the bottom of all BlogHer blog posts that says "share this link". If you click it, you'll see a handful of social bookmarking icons that will allow you to share content you've enjoyed with the world or search for others who have shared this content. What? You haven't registered for Digg or De.lici.ous or Technorati? What are you waiting for, go register!

9) Go surfing Click Blog Lists in the top, horizontal navigation bar and you'll have thousands of fabulous blogs, most of which are written by women, at your fingertips. You can start surfing by topic or by alphabetical listing. You can even leave a comment on the BlogHer listing so others know how you feel about a blog. You’ll also find lists of blogs by topic on the topic pages too.

10) "Pick a color", any color: OK, not any color...but four is a lot more than you'll find at some of those other websites. Did you notice those four tiny blocks of color and the invitation to "pick a color" next to the horizontal navigation at the top of the screen? Click one and see what happens! Cool, right? Which color is your favorite? Or will you surf BlogHer with a different color every day?

Thanks for reading. We’d love to know what you think of BlogHer’s site and how you’d like to be able to use it. Please come tell us in our forum, Using this site. Additional information about BlogHer and the BlogHer website can also be found in our FAQs.

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Using This Site