Here's a self-help guide to get you started on creating your profile and blogging: 

1.     Your Profile: Add your picture. After you login, you can start by clicking on the second small icon of a person's head on the far left side in the dark gray bar at the very top of your screen. Then select “Edit Profile” > Edit Profile Icon. (In the graphic below, you'll see there is a small picture of Marshall Goldsmith who has already uploaded his picture.)

2.Add your bio and links to your website/books:      Once you've gone to your profile page, click on "Edit Profile" so you can add a bio of yourself, a link to your website, your expertise, skills, interests and contact information. Make sure to create a “Brief Description” or short bio as well as a longer bio that can have links to your website. The shorter bio will show up next to all your blogs.  

To add links to your bio, take your cursor and highlight the words you want to link. For example, it could be the name of your book. When you highlight the words, you will see a small link appear in your toolbar, to the left of the little green icon in your editing toolbar. Left-click on the link and a box will open up. Paste the url of the page you are linking to in the "link url" box. Then, hit "Insert".   

Also, select "Public" or  "logged in viewers". Otherwise, the tab will automatically select "Private" and only you will see the information. Definitely add “interests,” “skills” and "locations" because people will link on those words and find all the people with similar interests, skills or hometowns. Use commas to separate words. Example: art, speaking,coaching, etc.   Make sure to “Save” when you’re finished.

3. Adding Your Twitter Feed:  After you login, click on the small picture of yourself in the upper left. Then click on “Edit Page” to the right. You will then see a list of widgets on the right. Click and drag over the widget for Twitter to the area you want it to show up on your page. “Right Widgets” is good. Click “Edit” on the Twitter widget and insert your Twitter name and how many tweets you want to show up on your page. 5-6 is a good number. Make sure to “Save” the page. The Save button is underneath the column for “Left Widgets”.

4. Writing a Blog or Commenting:  

Once you are logged in, you will be invited to "Write a Blog". You will see where to add a title, text and those very important tags. These are "key words" you use to describe the content of your story. It's how people will find your stories or comments. Separate each key word with a comma. (Example: change, leadership, management skills, etc.)  Make sure to Select  "Save to Private” so we can edit your blog before it goes public.

If you want to comment on other stories, you will see how where to comment at the bottom of the stories. You need to be logged in to comment.  Just remember to hit “Save” so everyone can see your comments.

5.   Adding photos or graphics to your blog

After logging in, hover your cursor over the word “Tools” in the gray horizontal nav bar at the top of your screen. Click on “Files” in the drop down menu. You will then see where to “Upload a file”. Make sure the make the "Access" "Public. The default is "Private" so you need to make the photo public so people can see it. Once you upload a picture, open it by clicking on it.  Make sure you have double-clicked on it until it is the only thing you see on your screen. Go to your browser and copy the url. (It should end in a number if you are doing this correctly).

You can also add any picture that has already been published to the web to your blog. You just need to get the url of the picture. If you are using a PC, put your cursor over the picture and right click on it. A box will open and you will see, “Properties” at the bottom. Left click on the word, “Properties”. A box will open and you’ll see,  "Address url" . Highlight the url and copy it. Then follow the instructions above explaining how to insert the picture into your blog. 

One more thing.  If you want to resize your picture, you can!  You’ll notice that when you click on the picture, little squares show up on the corners and inbetween the corners of the picture. If you left click on a corner of the picture and drag it towards the center of the picture, you can make it smaller. If you want to make it larger, click on one of the corners and drag it away from the picture.

You can also adjust the length and width of the picture by clicking on the picture and then clicking on the dots inbetween the corners of the picture and dragging them in the direction you want.

Make sure to "Publish" to "Private" and double-check that you like your blog. Once you are happy with it, notify us and we will edit your blog and cross-link it to other blogs. The cross-linking helps you and other experts to be seen when people are reading similar stories.  If you find you need to go back in an edit, just scroll down to the bottom of your blog and hit "Edit". It will open up your blog and allow you to make the changes you need. Of course, you will need to be logged in to do this.

6. Adding links to your blog

To add links to your blog, take your cursor and highlight the words you want to link. For example, it could be the name of your book. When you highlight the words, you will see a small link appear in your editing toolbar, to the left of the little green icon. Left-click on the link and a box will open up. Paste the url of the page you are linking to in the "link url" box. Then, hit "Insert".  

We suggest that you add a sentence or two about yourself and link to your website at the bottom of each blog. (Check out other experts to see how they've done this.) Once you create this "footer" about yourself, you can always copy and paste it into the bottom of your subsequent blogs.