Dec 15, 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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    3. Great start! It would be great if you could fill out your About page, other bloggers do read this to find out more about the author.
      You also have a text widget to the right of the screen. That can be amended in the customiser. Hope this helps. 🙂

      Liked by 6 people

    3. On you Christmas idea blog it would be nice to know a little more about each of the items you listed rather than having to click on each item then be redirected to Amazon to read about them. Also, if I hadn’t clicked on the pictures I would have never known that they all link to Amazon. Otherwise it would just be a page with a lot of photos with no descriptions.

      Liked by 5 people

      1. Well done! It looks like you guys cleaned up the default pages nicely. Your theme looks sharp. The idea of the blog is engaging, and the pictures definitely add to the content.

        The “Follow” button on the bottom right is not overly visible, which might be an issue for some, but not anything to freak out about. However, I was unable to leave a comment for some reason. I tried to do it under different posts a couple of times, but I was unsuccessful. When it was time to fill out my name and email, those windows were not responsive (i.e. I could not type in them) and I got an error when trying to submit without that info. So that is something I would definitely want to look into. It should be easy for WordPress users to leave comments, if you want to build your own community.

        Hope that helps.

        Liked by 5 people

      2. Thank you so much for taking the time to look around. It is really appreciated, I am struggling with the difference between .com and .org, so am learning all the time. I have just changed the comments when you get a moment would you take another look? Thanks again.

        Liked by 7 people

      3. Oh, the amount of times that I read advice about something … and then I found out it was for .org. It IS confusing.

        What a fast work on the comment issue! Well done! Seems to be working now.

        Ok, so I tried to follow and I have another challenge for you – add the WP follow button. Because the one you currently have is for email subscription only.

        Liked by 3 people

      4. Ok so this time I’m not so quick. Have been in live chat and it appears as I am self hosted I am unable to use the wordpress.com follow button (if anyone knows a way round let me know). So users have to search in the reader to find us and follow that way 🙈

        Liked by 3 people

      8. Thanks Michelle I was actually looking at this blog post earlier today. I have made my wordpress.com account as I kept getting followers of that account rather than the self hosted account then having to migrate them over. So what address would I put in the blog to follow ? If my wordpress.com is private? Thanks for your help 🙏🏼

        Liked by 3 people

      2. Ok, so I have to say that this is a phenomenal mommy blog.
        Technie novice? No way. Everything is so clean and nice.
        An interesting twist on “blogmas”! Check it out, Moms, or Moms-to be

        Liked by 2 people

      1. An inspirational start!
        If I was to suggest anything – maybe add an “About” page? So that people can get the sense of what kind of blog this is/ will be, and who you are.
        Followed, btw!

        Like

      2. I will most certainly do that! You are the second person who has told me that, so thank you 😊 I will get started!!

        Thank you for following! ❤

        Liked by 2 people

    2. How great!! I’ve always wished I could draw/sketch/paint…all I can do is color inside the lines of a coloring book! 😆 Seriously, though, your blog looks awesome! I did notice you had some filler text at the bottom of your page, though. Best of luck and happy blogging! 💫

      Liked by 7 people

  10. November 17, 2017
    Bobbi
    The first time for anything is hard. I remember my first bike ride, I’ve never gotten much better at it. My first time hiking with a group in the Olympic National Forest, beautiful, but I spent a lot of time looking for bears and trying not to fall off old logs. My first kiss was easier, I had a partner that knew what to do. My first airplane ride was full of panic and fear, I exited the plane on shaky legs and lots of sweat. My first time driving a car with a clutch I lived in San Francisco, I did fine, the guy behind me was a bit fearful when I rested my car on his bumper so I could shift on a hill. My first-time public speaking I couldn’t find my voice and spent the entire time wanting to pee. I’m having some of those feelings trying to write my first blog, not sure why that is….but now I have to pee.

    Liked by 16 people

      1. Hi!
        Well, you have a lovely blog!❤
        I noticed that you don’t have an ‘About’ page in your site. I would highly recommend you to add one! Having an ‘About’ page which talks about you and what your blog aims at, will help the visitors understand your blog better.
        Let me know if you need any help in knowing how to add a page to your site!
        Best of luck!❤

        Liked by 2 people

    2. 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 6 people

    1. Your site mentioned “world exploration” on the main page but I didn’t see any posts about that. Also there is nothing in your gallery/on your gallery page. Your blog is very nice though from a motivational/self-help standpoint.

      Liked by 3 people

      5. Hey, thanks so much for the feedback.

        I’m still working out the kinks on my Gallery page hence the slight delay. I have a lot of photos from a few travels.

        In regards to the “world exploration” bit is where I’m a little off. I do a lot of hiking and the outdoors in different parts of my country but I can’t seem to get my hand straight on traveling stories. I always end up deviating midway into something else. Although I do have a few drafted I could post them and see the feedback I get. I think that’s where I really am trying to figure out my voice.
        All in all, thank you very much for the feedback though, I really do appreciate it. Cheers

        Liked by 3 people

  25. Good morning everyone!!! Still somewhat new, this will be my last post here on “First Friday” – Michelle, thank you in advance for the opportunities you create here. I have published my second post 2 nights ago with great travel tips on the Amalfi Coast! Check out Travel.Eat.Repeat for some exciting travel tips and restaurant recommendations! Happy blogging! https://jordyjords.com/

    Liked by 17 people

  26. I’m new to wordpress and am making an earnest attempt at establishing a blog. I don’t yet have a solid direction, but I believe that will come with time. For now, it’s all about dedicating time and effort toward this blog, in hopes that it helps me to establish my voice as a writer. So, check out my first couple of posts, and let me know what you think. Thanks in advance!
    justshowupcom.wordpress.com

    Liked by 16 people

    1. Hi, this link doesn’t work – it takes me to my page. Sorry.
      Traffic is a hard one. I can have 30 – 40 views a day when I publish a popular post. Around half that (or less) when I haven’t posted anything. I have 140 followers. If you are active on your social media you may have more views. E.G. when I post to Facebook I can get a lot of views – but I don’t always post – I’m a little shy. My Twitter is mostly anonymous and therefore picks up a tiny amount of views even though that posts automatically when I publish on here.
      If you have your tags and categories to 15 or less combined that is good. Anymore and the anti spam filter will stop search engine choosing your posts.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Thank you for your comment, maybe for the link is better like this, htto://www.whisper365blog.wordpress.coplease tell me if it’s ok.
        My traffic was the same until i made FB page for the blog, it’s double now.

        Liked by 2 people

    2. Welcome!

      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 a public link to your post 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 paste it here.

      Here’s your homepage: http://doggedblogged.wordpress.com/

      Also: If you look over to the right of your posts, you’ll see a bit of placeholder text — it’s meant to help you learn how to work with widgets, and 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/)

      Like

    3. Great post!
      FYI you might like to add more photos – particularly when the post is long as it breaks up the text. Don’t feel bad about the long post – I can’t write a short post.
      Also it’d be good if you could fill in your about page so other bloggers know more about you!
      Great name btw. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person