Blogging for Carolina Tutoring is simple!  “What do I blog about?” you may ask.  Well, that’s the easy part – you can be as specific or as general as you like.  You can write just a couple of sentences on a topic, or you are welcome to write a longer, more detailed piece.  If you don’t have much time, we would love for you to just provide a hyperlink to an interesting article, video, Powerpoint, educational game, etc. that you want to share with the community.  Need ideas?  Glance through the blog, visit the  Carolina Tutoring Facebook page, or follow Carolina Tutoring on Twitter to see what others are sharing.  If blogging is not for you, feel free to subscribe to the RSS feed and check out what others have to say!

Click Here to Blog for Carolina Tutoring and follow the steps below:

Step 1:  Create a WordPress Account

1.  The prompt will ask you for a username and an email.  Your username will be permanent; however, you will be allowed to change how your username appears to the public.  WordPress will email you a password (which you’ll be able to change later, if you like) in less than 15 minutes.

2. Once you receive your password, log in to create your user profile.  You will have the chance to write a biographical sketch.  This way, when parents read your blog posts, they can be taken directly to your profile.

3.  When you’re ready to write your first blog, go to the navigation bar on the left-hand side and click on “Posts.”   Then click on “Add New.

4.  Now, just type the content of your blog and be sure to provide a title with key words that highlight your topic or subject.

5.  Once you have finished typing your blog, simply click “Submit for Review” and your post will be reviewed and put in the queue for publishing.  Depending on the number of bloggers and frequency of submissions, blogs may be published and updated on the homepage several times a week.  The goal is to provide tutors’ blog posts more exposure on the homepage, so we will hope to have a tutor’s blog appear on the homepage for at least several days at a time.

Step 2: (Optional) Create a Gravatar Account and upload an author image.

(This step is optional, but could be very helpful in getting tutoring requests.  Gravatar allows you to upload an image to your blog by synchronizing with your WordPress account.  Parents tend to connect with images of people (rather than images of computer-generated silhouettes), so uploading an image may improve your success with acquiring tutor requests.)

Click Here to Create Your Gravatar Account and follow the steps below:

1. Enter the same email address you used for your WordPress account (very important!).

2. You will be emailed a link from Gravatar.  Click on the link in the email, and you’ll be asked to create a username and password.  Make sure your username is DIFFERENT from the WordPress username or the account will not register properly.

3. You’ll be asked to upload an image from your computer or from the internet; this will be the image that appears beside your blog posts.  The image you upload on Gravatar will be synched with your WordPress account, so when you post a blog, your Gravatar image will appear with your blog.

4. Once you’ve completed Step 3, you’re done!

Thanks for contributing to the Carolina Tutoring Blog!