Your site is live. What comes next? There are a few things that will both prepare you for collaboration opportunities, and help you look professional.
1. Get a Headshot: Take photos specifically for blog headshots instead of cropping photos you already have since they will look more professional. You don’t need to hire a professional photographer to take your headshots, you can recruit a friend. Take several photos; you may want a mix of head shots and full length photos. You can use the same photo for your own blog and any guests posts you write for other sites if you want continuity. If you start contributing to other sites, you will need a headshot and bio to accompany your work on the site.
2. Write a Bio: Bios can be surprising difficult to write, so it is best to have one on hand. A bio is an opportunity tell people who you are and to drive traffic to your site. A basic bio should be about 5-6 sentences and tell people where you are from, where you live, and which sites you write for. Reference any work or press you are particularly proud of. Make sure you include a link to your website. Be sure to update this from time to time so it is accurate.
3. Set Up A Blog-Specific Email Address: This will help you stay organized and it will show that you consider blogging to be a business.
4. Update Your Email Signature: Include links to your blog and all of our social media profiles in your email signature. Also add an image of your blog’s logo. This will help drive traffic to your site, and immediately give any potential collaborators all of the information they need.
By: Kit Graham