Sep 22, 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.

Image by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nicolebeaulac/14523302989/in/photolist-o8nHZF-8rm4S3-4qSDKZ-59PhPN-oehCvG-6L4biF-o8oMhZ-59K5dR-6L4j72-okR4Ln-5PiY9A-59K4UX-52g3dU-27Nf81-2ZYhE3-oL2VyZ-dGfrZn-6L8rvj-8hS4H5-6BcEmP-5Gx2tR-ocxbCS-8WLdjF-6BcGne-7e1ndv-oL2syE-oXdQbM-8KcZem-oiNrGn-6L4cEi-bjKZne-8g3bLG-bgykmz-6L8mio-8WLdjV-8WLdjv-aL4fMr-9X1RoC-boow88-oBYMUV-esxgv1-525zPK-duqKvE-pHSTmW-eewW8e-o92SFa-aL4fSV-2LvJoi-7e5gij-6L4az8">Nicole Beaulac</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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  2. Hello everyone! I just wrote my first two substantive posts this week. I’m a writer with an primary focus on advancing constructive political discussion. I bear no allegiance to right or left, and do my level best to bring an honest perspective from a working persons point of view. I’d like to invite you to take a look, then share your opinions (agreed or otherwise) to move political dialogue forward.
    https://bernnoticepolitics.wordpress.com/

    Liked by 6 people

  4. Hi I’m Cerys (its a welsh name). I started my blog last Thursday (typically First Friday took a day off last week lol) and I started the blog because I would love to go into fashion journalism as I am super passionate about both writing and fashion and figured a blog would be really good fun and a great place to get some practice, so I would really love any feedback that anyone could give me. I have written 4 blog posts since last week (only posted 2) so any readers would be really appreciated. Linked below is my introduction post, thank you so so much. xxx C.A.

    https://cerysannblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/14/introduction/

    Liked by 9 people

    1. Great start Cerys! 1) You are adorable, 2) You live in such a cool city for a back drop for pictures and, 3) you have a passion for writing and fashion journalism – win/win/win. My feedback would be to highlight the types of styles you like and include more pictures on how your style has evolved. Also, you may want to consider a static landing on your front page. When you go to your home page the sign language picture is front and center and if you want to focus on fashion, you could make it more clear with picts of different pictures of you or styles you would like to highlight. GREAT START though – I think the exercise of just starting helps us to better define the direction we want to go! Best of luck and I look forward to watching your site evolve! Roseanne@TheOpenAttic

      Liked by 7 people

  5. Hello writer friends!
    I just started a blog Sept 12th called http://www.theopenattic.net with a goal to connect with people, encourage others, share projects, travel adventures and life lessons. I felt called to start this blog, so I am not sure what direction it will take. I would MUCH APPRECIATE any feedback on my first blog post called: The Closet Hoarder’s Dilemma, which can be found here: https://theopenattic.net/2017/09/12/the-closet-hoarders-dilemma/.

    I look forward to checking out your sites and being a part of this community!
    Thanks so much in advance!
    ♥R@TheOpenAttic♥

    Liked by 13 people

    1. One thing I noticed — you’re using a lot of tags and categories on some of your posts. The WordPress.com Reader actually filters out posts that use more than 15 tags and categories (combined) as an anti-spam measure, so using this many tags actually makes it harder for folks to find your posts, which is sad! If you cut your tags down to the most relevant, you’ll actually draw more readers.

      Liked by 3 people

    2. I liked your blog. I have one suggestion tho. I didn’t see a category menu. I saw on the sidebar where you listed what you might write about but when I clicked on the words, they weren’t links to categories, just words. I have to go into a post, go to the bottom before I can click on a tag or category. Instead of the list of words on the sidebar, maybe replace it with the tag cloud? it’ll create clickable links so you don’t have to update all the time. I’ve noticed that people who have been following me, just go to the latest post (usually straight from the reader) but new people explore more, sometimes click a category or tag and look at one or two more as well as the About/Intro page. Just a suggestion.

      Liked by 4 people

    1. Hi Rickey, I went to your site. Love the coffee bean picture. On your first post, the “power quote”, it only shows “This is the post excerpt” but there is no post excerpt. When I click, there is only a picture and a quote, no writing. Maybe just go ahead and show the quote on the front page? Might look better. Your lists look like they will be helpful to folks.

      Liked by 2 people

    2. On the “excerpt” you want taken off your front page, if your wp site is like the free one, Using the wordpress menu, on the side, click on “edit” for your blog post. On the right hand side Post Settings menu, click on “More options”. Look at “Excerpt”, you’ll see that text in the box. Erase it or put the quote in there.
      As far as followers, I’d suggest looking at people’s blogs. The ones you like, you follow. Some of the people you follow will follow you, some won’t. I find the newer they are, the less followers they have, the more likely they are to follow but it’s not always true. If you can, try to make some honest but nice comments on some of the posts on the blogs you like. Sometimes they will comment on one of yours. This can also get you some followers. Try to find ways to get your blog noticed like Pinterest or Facebook or joining WordPress challenges. This also helps get followers. I don’t think just asking someone to follow you works that well but I could be wrong. I’ve only been blogging for a couple months so I don’t know what else works. I’m new too so I don’t know that much. You’ll have to ask someone who knows more. Good luck.

      Liked by 2 people

    2. FYI: that link goes to your dashboard, which is private, so people won’t be able to see your site. The simplest way to get the public link is to go to your blog’s homepage and click on the post title. Then, copy the address you see in your browser’s address bar and use that.

      Here’s your homepage: https://jerseyshoreview.com/

      (And hello, from a former resident of Asbury Park!)

      Liked by 2 people

  10. Hello, I’m a new blogger and I am all about daily life and advice. I aspire to inspire. Please take the time to check out my very first post!

    insidetheoutsidesite.wordpress.com

    Liked by 8 people

    1. Welcome 🙂

      Looks like you haven’t given your site a title yet! If you’d like to add one (we recommend it), you can do that by going to My Site > Customize > Site Identity.

      You also 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!

      (For more on widgets, what they’re for, and how to use them, check out https://learn.wordpress.com/get-flashy/)

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I think it’s ok to post everyday. The chunks of texts are too long, though. You need to break them up into paragraphs, add some pictures and maybe headers or quotes to break it up. A long chunk of text is visually boring and we have become a visual culture even in the blogging world. Blogs are less a book and more like a magazine.

        I have a problem writing long paragraphs too so you’re not the only one. I fix them after. For images, several sites out there have copyright free images like Pixabay.com. So when you finish the writing; put in paragraphs, headers, quotes and images. Your reader needs to breath during a marathon. Think of paragraphs as breaths and images as rest stops. Subheaders are like street signs, letting the reader know what they will find in the next few paragraphs.

        Liked by 4 people

    1. One thing I noticed — you’re using a lot of tags and categories on some of your posts. The WordPress.com Reader actually filters out posts that use more than 15 tags and categories (combined) as an anti-spam measure, so using this many tags actually makes it harder for folks to find your posts, which is sad! If you cut your tags down to the most relevant, you’ll actually draw more readers.

      Liked by 2 people

    2. When I decided to start my blog I made the decision to keep it separate from my personal life so I can completely understand. I’ll post pictures of myself but I don’t use my name or any other identifying information. I find it a bit freeing that way, you can talk about things without having a filter.

      Liked by 3 people

    1. Was super interested in reading this post, but it seems that your hyperlink is broken.

      However, I did look at one of your other posts. Very well-written and thoughtful. You’re doing some very important outreach.

      Liked by 3 people

    3. I recieved feed back that my original link did not work. A new link to the same blog post, hope that is ok.

      I am a survivor of multiple traumas including sexual abuse/incest. If you follow my blog youll get a fromt tow seat to the chaotic recovery of CPTSD, Anxiety, Affects Dysregulation and Depression. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?? 😊😊 https://survivingchildhoodtraumablog.wordpress.com/2017/08/28/facing-my-childhood-how-it-all-started/?preview=true

      Liked by 3 people