How Do I Get Started With Active Rain- Your Primer

• After you are registered on Active Rain,

•  
  • You want to complete your profile
    
    • don't worry about how much you put, because you can always go back and add to it later
    • You would now want to go "Groups"
      
      • Go to your home page and look at the top. See below for photo --- Click on "Groups" and you will get the same kind of page as shown here below
      
      • You just scroll through the groups and find ones that are of interest to you
      • Warning -- there are over 5000 groups

• Then, you go to "write a blog post" on your home page

• Then you will see this.

• Determine something about which you are passionate
  • Do you have a favorite story about a client or a friend?
    
  • Are you a golfer, or tennis player, or fisherman or swimmer, etc?
    
• Just sit down and start writing
• When you finish your story, you should
  • Go back and be sure that you don't have long paragraphs
  • Try to insert appropriate photos that pertain to your story
    • how do you insert a photo? -- just click on the small photo at the top
      

• • Check to be sure you  used no profanity or suggestive language
    
  • Check your spelling and your grammar -- Active Rain has a tool to help you with this
    • Look to the right of the button used for "insert Photo"on the tool bar --- you will see ABC with a check mark -- this checks your spelling
      

• You don't want to copy someone else's story without giving credit

• Be careful that you don't violate copyright laws

• Need help from the Master -- Active Brad --he has several blogs on questions and answers -- he is awesome
  

• If there something in your story that needs to be linked back to another site, then you just use the insert link
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  • By the way, this does not show up until you have highlighted the word that you want to be linked
  • Then you will click on that symbol and when the next page pops up, just insert the URL

• You will have to be sure that you have put the title in the title box
  

• What in the world are tags?
  • For now, just words or phrases that you have used in the story
  • You want to include your name and company name
  • As you progress, you will learn much more about these "tags"

• What does "visibility" mean?  Here is a description of your choices.

• OK, now what about "Localism.com"?
  • If you want your blog to be posted to your state, your city, your neighborhood, just click on "localism.com" button and there will be a drop down menu from which you will select.

• What is "Active Rain Channels"?
  If you click on this button, there will be a drop down menu.

• "My Groups" --- what is this?
  • If you have not joined any groups, then there will nothing here when you click this button
  • If you have joined groups, then when you click on the button, there will be a drop down of your groups
  • The maximum you are allowed to select is 5
    

• "Categories" --- click on the button and the drop down menu shows you the possible categories --
  
  • You select one
    

• "My Outside blog" -- For the longest time, I checked this box, because I did not know what it was for
  • Unless you have an Active Rain Outside blog, you don't check this box

• "Re-Blogging" --- If you are OK with someone else re-blogging your story, check this box
  • I always check that box

• The last 2 buttons are to be checked if they are applicable

• "Post Blog Entry" --- WOW -- you are ready to launch your story.
  • Click on this
  • It will then bring up this page that asked to be sure that your story does not violate the copyright law
    • Once you click OK, voila! --- there will be your blog.

• If you see something right away that is not right, you can click on "edit"
  

• 
  • This will take you back to your page where you were inputting the blog
  • You can make your correction and then click on "Post Blog Entry" again
    

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