Sep 8, 2017 / First Friday

First Friday

New blogger? Welcome! Share a link to your first post, say hello to other new faces, and find your first few readers.

"<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ColorfulFireworks.png">Colourful Fireworks</a>" by Kurume-Shimin, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>.

For other help:
If you’re not new and are looking for support or feedback, the Community Pool is the place for you!

For technical questions, visit the WordPress.com Support Forums.

To learn more about blogging, take a Blogging U. course.

To find, copy, and paste your link:
Head to your blog’s home page — not your dashboard, your blog itself. Click on the title of your post to open the individual post.

Highlight and copy the URL you see in your browser’s address bar, and paste the entire URL into a comment here.

Welcome to First Friday, a weekly open thread where any new blogger can share a link to his or her very first post with the larger WordPress.com community. To share your first post with us, copy and paste the link right into a comment here. If you’re not new, you can still be a part of First Fridays: visit a link or two, and leave the blogger a like or comment.

Please don’t use this as a space to share your first post…. that you published three years ago; ditto for simply sharing your latest post. Posts should have been published within the last month, and should be your first post. We’ll remove other posts to keep this space focused for new bloggers.

We ask that you help us keep this space focused by following a few additional guidelines:

  • We encourage anyone who shares a link to visit a few other bloggers. New readers for all!
  • When commenting, the third time is not the charm: don’t share the same link repeatedly, or in multiple First Friday threads. We’ll remove repeat posts.
  • Link directly to your new post, rather than to your blog generally — it makes it that much easier for folks to like the post or leave you comments.
  • Avoid repeated “Follow for a follow!” comments. (Tip: if you’re trying to build a readership, it’s much more effective to visit and comment on individual bloggers.)
  • To keep from losing your place while you visit others’ blogs, right-click on links to open them in a new tab or window.
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  1. Hi! I started my blog this week and I’m focusing on my family’s efforts to get debt-free and stop keeping up with the Jones’s. If we keep doing what we’re doing we’ll be the Jones’s! I’m newer than new to this so I invite everyone to pop over and give me feedback. A ‘Follow’ or two would be appreciated 😊.
    Catebenson.com

    Liked by 13 people

    3. I like your latest post! For some reason, the app wouldn’t let me comment on the article. But I like the insights you included in your article. I have always been someone to favor experiences and quality time than material gifts. Thanks for sharing and I look forward to following your journey.

      Liked by 5 people

  2. Hello! My wife and I have started a blog in the past month tracking the very beginning of us starting a family. Most recently, I wrote an article on my experience at my first consultation with pain management. I’ve had chronic back pain for a couple years now. Check it out and let me know your thoughts, thanks!

    Pain Management

    Liked by 14 people

  4. Hi everyone! I started my blog two weeks ago, and I’m having a great time. I post mostly semi-fictional stories about every day life growing up and living in Southern Ontario.

    I find writing to be cathartic and I’m really happy to have found this place and to read everyone else’s blogs!

    Welcome to My Blog

    Liked by 8 people

    1. You may want to consider using excerpts on your home page so that readers don’t have scroll past the entire content of each post to see the next.

      Liked by 3 people

    1. Hi there, welcome to blogging! I think the best way to gain followers is to first and foremost build a community. First Friday and Community Pool are great resources to read other people’s blogs and interact with them. Another way to find readers through other blogs and your own is the use of tags and categories. Not sure if you know this, but WordPress filters a post as “spam” if one uses more than a combined (of tags and categories) fifteen.
      Please let me know if you need other help. Happy blogging! 😃💫

      Liked by 3 people

    2. Welcome!

      I noticed that you still have some placeholder text in your blog’s sidebar, over to the right of your posts — you can remove or edit that by going to My Site > Customize > Widgets. Look for the Text Widget!

      Like

  11. Hello everyone✋✋i just started a new blog u might wanna check it out…it entails the best perspective of an afrikan writer📓📖📚

    Liked by 6 people

  23. Healthy, clean, holistic, and natural living are a few main topics I cover. (I also discuss philosophy and ethics quite a bit, but I realize those topics aren’t everyone’s cup of tea)

    I believe in living as naturally aligned a life as possible, which means I don’t use shampoo (gasp), I don’t do hair removal (GASP), I don’t take medications or use any chemical laden products on or in my body, I don’t even consume cholesterol; there is much more to a natural life but these are some great examples. I’ve had this blog for months now and I intend on focusing it more on helping others attain a natural lifestyle and making it a place that people leave feeling educated, enriched, and inspired.

    I still feel very new to blogging (and writing in a public space in general) and recently I was told that I talk about “pointless” things by someone who I thought was a friend after I sent them the link to my blog, which made me really reflect on why I’m doing this;
    So I suppose my goal with this comment is to assess what it is that this community gains the most from regarding content style and maybe receive some tips on how to create a platform that is interesting and not just informational, because I know many people aren’t engaged with dry content.

    Thanks to everyone here for being part of this open and creative environment!

    https://thinkandthriveblog.wordpress.com/

    Liked by 13 people

    1. I like that you bolded points that you wanted to emphasize. In terms of tips, I like to mix together the “dry” scientific information with personal anecdotes as I know that I tend to be drawn in when there is some kind of story behind the concepts being presented.

      Liked by 4 people

      1. I’m always apprehensive with talking about myself, mainly because I think it seems egotistical to assume people are interested in my life. I know I have valuable experiences to share, I just need to figure out how to present it without feeling insecure/self-important. I never want my blog to turn into a diary of my life, you know what I mean?
        PS your blog is simply captivating and unique, I’m so going to binge read it now..

        Liked by 6 people

    2. Wow, I can see that some of your posts could be controversial (better make sure those citations are all correct and present or you will doubtless be challenged on some of your facts!)

      I enjoyed reading the one about cholesterol and the one about circumcision )on second thoughts, I’m not sure that “enjoyed” is the right word here, but hopefully you know what I mean).

      I look forward to reading more from you but the posts are so idea-dense that I don’t think I can read more than one or two posts in a sitting.

      Liked by 5 people

      1. Thanks for your insight.
        I totally get what you’re saying about it being controversial/idea-dense.. I think I’m still a bit unsure where I want to go with this blog, I began it with the intentions of using it as a portfolio of my work (as a point of reference for publishers regarding my freelance work); but now it seems like I need to refocus it; I know I would benefit from a more sophisticated layout that allows me to categorize my posts into folders, but I think that option has to be payed for on wordpress and frankly I cant afford to put money toward this blog right now. I’ll take this into consideration going forward though and try to make my content as reader-friendly/relatable as possible

        Liked by 5 people

      2. I find it reader-friendly. It’s just that my intellect has limitations and there are only so many new ideas I can handle in one go!

        In terms of controversy, that wasn’t a criticism, but do be prepared that you might get some abuse once the blog starts to reach a wider audience. Not everyone on the internet is open-minded enough to entertain an opinion that is not their own.

        I don’t think you should change anything about the way you are posting – maybe an anecdote here or there would be okay to include though. I read you concerns about doing this above but don’t think you need to worry. It will just make it more personal.

        Liked by 5 people

      3. I actually often think about how to discuss controversial matters in ways that aren’t condescending or inflammatory, it is tough these days expressing unpopular opinions since everything seems to offend someone or another haha. But I will need to ruminate over the anecdote thing, I know that sharing personal things is a challenge for me so I have to figure out how to get past that.

        Liked by 5 people

      4. Hi there! I agree, this is a controversial topic. The upside of making it more personal is that it would be less of a “this is how YOU should be” approach and more of a “this is how *I* do it”; this could help you connect with the readers who are wanting to learn more and diffuse the ones who disagree. Does that make sense?

        Liked by 3 people

      5. It does make sense, like how therapists advise using “I” statements instead of “you” statements to get a point across. I will def keep this in mind going forward!

        Liked by 3 people

      6. I’m cracking up right now because I am a counselor so I guess that came across unintentionally. Yes, like “I” statements. It will be harder for people to argue against your scientific backing if you’re attributing it to your own lifestyle and not theirs. 🙂

        Liked by 2 people

      7. Haha that’s too perfect. Thank you for the advice, I know approach is a huge part of a message and can make the difference in getting it across or not, so I’m really going to focus on that.

        Liked by 3 people

  26. Hello and welcome, new folks! Congrats on starting your blogs! We’re really excited to meet you.

    As usual, I just want to remind everyone that we moderate the comments on First Friday pretty heavily — this is really a space for brand new people to introduce themselves and meet one another, and for others to welcome and support them.

    If you’re not here to either share your (recent) first post or leave a supportive comment, please head to the Community Pool, which is where any blogger can seek feedback on any aspect of blogging. And if you’re not sure what the guidelines here are, please read the above post — or just ask!

    Happy blogging, y’all:)

    Liked by 2 people

  29. Hi, I’m David. I started my blog at the end of last year but got no further than giving it a title and a cover picture, so I hope it’s ok to use this forum. I’ve been interested in photography all my life, having spent hours in the darkrooms of the newspaper where my father was editor.
    My main interest is street photography, but following a move to rural Wales I’ve started exploring landscapes with a dark twist.
    I hope you like my work, and I’d welcome any comments or critiques.
    Thanks David
    https://davidcollyer.wordpress.com/

    Liked by 14 people

  30. Hello,
    I am new in blogging. I start blogging to improve my English.I will really appreciate if you read and pass feedback.
    This is my first Blog
    thedailywalk838.wordpress.com/2017/09/08/what-if-voice-assistant-turn-against-you/

    Liked by 11 people