Blogging is a central part of the Knowledge Network, and it’s easy to get started and share your voice!

Assuming you’re signed in to the Knowledge Network (you must be signed in to blog or start a new blog), when you’re on the Knowledge Network homepage or browsing blogs, you’ll see the option to write a New blog post, and when you’re browsing blogs you’ll also see the option to Start a new blog.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN START YOUR BLOGS! To start a new blog, simply click on the Start a new blog link (on the Knowledge Network homepage or when browsing the list of blogs) and follow the on-screen instructions. 

Title: Your title should be brief and descriptive. Use only a few words, telling the reader the general idea that ties together all of your posts. For example, call it “Standing Meetings,” not “I have a brief question about the differences between standing meeting and sitting meetings.”

Description: An ideal description is only two or three sentences. Don’t put any of the content you’ve intended for this blog in the description; save the content for the posts. Simply give your readers a focused but also macro-level idea of what they’re getting with your blog.

Photo and Banner: All new blogs should contain a photo( this is a thumbnail photo that will appear next to your blog title on the blogs homepage), and we encourage bloggers to include a banner photo as well, this photo will go across the top of your blog’s homepage. Acceptable file types are JPG, GIF, or PNG. The photos (as well as all blog content) must comply with the Knowledge Network’s terms of use.

The Banner ALT tag is for Search engine optimization purposes; enter a description of the banner photo—it will not be displayed on the blog itself, but will increase your blog’s chances of showing up in a Google search.

Contributing Groups: If you’re a member of one or more groups to which this blog pertains directly, you can add that group as a contributor, and all members of that group will be able to post on the blog.

NOTE: while you will maintain the ability to remove others’ posts, selecting contributor groups will allow any person in that group (and if that group is Open, any person that opts to join that group) to post on your blog. Make sure you can account for everyone in the group before you add it as a contributor.

Contributors: This allows you to add individual Knowledge Network users as contributors to the blog. If you have coworkers, professional contacts, or friends you think would make good additions to your blog, you should add them as contributors—however, make sure (as with contributing groups) to exercise caution in choosing your contributors.

Blog Home Page: You can choose here how you want your blog posts to appear on your blog’s homepage. If you expect your posts to be longer, you may want to select “Show summaries,” so that when people go to your homepage, they see only the first few lines of each post and then can click on the link to read the rest.

Once you’re done, click Save, and you’ll be ready to start posting to your new blog!

Maxwell Moline

ICMA Knowledge Network Intern 

mmoline@icma.org