If Your Blog Was a Resume

I am re-posting this article from some time ago. Quick reason why: So I went to this fabulous blog party yesterday right, and there was one common thread: We couldn’t follow each other! On more than one occasion there was an issue with someone’s follow button (including mine!) and other critical buttons in its relation to networking.

***

If your blog was a resume, will I be able to contact you for a job?

I follow a lot of blogs through the WordPress reader that I would like to follow by way of my email because it’s easier for me to keep in touch. I manage the blogs I follow by regulating my settings. Some blogs I adjust to get emails every day and instantly. Some I have set for a few times a week, and some I purposely just follow through the reader.

I don’t consider myself an expert blogger so take this with a grain of salt, but perhaps it will be beneficial to make sure your Follow This Blog button is visible. I have come to really enjoy smaller blogs. There is something genuine about a blog with fewer followers. However, I soon discover why there is not much support. I enjoy the post but I can’t find a follow button. There is also one page. It is the about page. I click on the about page. There is nothing there. I don’t know what this blog is about and I can’t follow it to receive the next post. I leave. I may never return.

follow-us-button-featured1

I suppose we are all writing publicly for a reason. There is really no such thing as a private blog. If you really wanted to write privately you’d just buy a journal. Instead you started a blog on the World Wide Web so it means you are looking for some kind of attention. That said, the best way to meet people is when you expose things about yourself others can relate to. It can be anything from your favorite food to your humor to your family photos. The point I’m making is give us something. Give us a reason to care. If there’s not even a follow button you cannot expect people to follow you.

(Its Okay to admit you want people to follow your blog. This isn’t arrogance or narcissism. You’re not saying “worship me,” you are just looking for support to help improve your writing or expose yourself as an author or whatever the reason you are blogging. We all know by now that not everyone who follows your blog is really following your blog, this is not about that. This is about helping those who do really want to support you, to do so):

  • Go into your dashboard
  • Go to WP Admin
  • Appearance > Widgets

Here, you’ll see lots of widgets you can use to spice up your sidebar. You can place them anywhere you want on your blog.

There are two kinds of follow buttons. I use both but the one you really want to have is the one that says “Add an email follow button to allow people to follow your blog”. This is the one that will allow people to follow you through their emails. This means that every time you publish a post they will get it in their emails. This is better than if they followed the reader because even when they are not logged in they can still have access to your blog (If they get tired of your emails, they can even adjust their settings so they only get post alerts from you at certain times). This will increase visibility, likes, comments, and overall interaction with your blog. Click and drag this button to the sidebar section. Go back and view your site so you can see how it looks. Preferably, you want your follow button somewhere we can see it easily. Try not to have it at the bottom of the blog because some of us are lazy and don’t want to scroll down that far. The ideal place is actually as close to the top as possible and in your sidebar. (Quick Note: Mine doesn’t say Follow This Blog. It says Subscribe to this Blog. Either one is fine).

Next, add some pages.

Go to Pages > Add a Page

Pages are designed to permanently store information. So a contact page or an about page is a good way to use pages. If you already have an about page, put something on it. It is also a good idea to make sure your stream of posts aren’t infinite. Again, we are lazy with goldfish attention spans, don’t make it difficult.

  • Go To WP Admin > Settings > Reading
  • Blog Pages Show At Most (Add the number you want. Limit it to less than forever)
  • For Each Article In Feed > Click Show Summary so that when people scroll through your blog they see a summary of the post without going on….you guessed it, forever.

Also, decorate the place a little bit. Play with WordPress many themes and colors to fit your style and personality. Whatever you do, get creative. We may just stick around a bit longer than usual.

BE SURE TO VISIT THE BLOG TIPS PAGE HERE BLOG TIPS PAGE HERE FOR MORE

BE SURE TO FOLLOW ME ON IG HERE

BE SURE TO FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER HERE

BE SURE TO LIKE MY FB PAGE HERE

AND BE SURE TO VISIT ME ON THE WEB ATWWW.YECHEILYAHYSRAYL.COM TO LEARN MORE.

Published by

Yecheilyah

Writing to restore Black historical truth through fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

46 thoughts on “If Your Blog Was a Resume”

  3. Pingback: If Your Blog Was a Resume | Entrepreneurship
  7. Pingback: My Article Read (11-28-2015) | My Daily Musing

  9. This was an interesting read; I’ll re-blog, folk should read this one.
    Personally, when it comes to being astute and brining quality in presentation I’m a hopeless case.
    (If I was doing a mountain climb my idea of preparation would be an extra pair of socks, one thick sweater, three packs of sandwiches, a thick pair of ordinary gloves and make sure my mobile was fully charged….and then I’d change my mind and go home to check my Amazon Wish list for reduction in prices instead)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. Certainly is. Just the sort of information someone starting off or maybe losing direction needs to read. Keep up the good work

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

  13. I love a good customized blog, it makes for a better user interaction all round, like some people actually haven’t checked out their blog on an actual browser and write only from a mobile app.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  19. Thank you so much! Don’t have much time to post (let alone mess with widgets N such!) Not sure how I got as many followers as I have without it!!!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  20. This is such a great article! I am new to blogging and this is information is going to be valuable for my own blog Little Lady in the Big World. Thanks for the info!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.