We Want Your Voice on Patch. Yes, Yours!

This post was written and reported by Patch Community Editor Leigh Armstrong.

Blogging on Land O’ Lakes Patch is a great way to voice your opinion, share your expertise, let us know what's happening in your part of town and more. Photo blogs of our beautiful beaches are welcome, too!

The new Patch platform features blogs right with the news on the Land O’ Lakes Patch home page.  As soon as you post, your blog is visible and the community can join the discussion.

Bloggers can now edit their own blogs after they are published.  So if you learn new information, want to add a photo or something else you now can.  

Bloggers can also moderate their own comments. This basically means you can delete comments that are personal attacks or use foul language right away.

Ready to get started blogging?  Here's how:

1. Go to www.landolakes.patch.com

2. Click on "Join" on the upper right side of the page.

3. Follow the simple instructions to confirm your account.

4. Log in and click on your name in the upper right.

5. Click on "Edit Profile" on the right and add a photo and a brief bio

Second, here’s how to start a blog:

Once you’re logged in, go to the homepage.

1. On the homepage, scroll down to the “Who’s Blogging?” module which is below the “News & Blogs” feed.

2. Click on the “Start blogging” button at the bottom right of the “Who’s Blogging?” module.

3. Complete setup by inputting the name of your blog, description and choosing or uploading a blog icon image

4. Click on “Create your blog.”

5. Now you can either “Write your first post,” “Dress up your blog” or tell people about it.

6. For your first blog all you need is a category, a brief description, a photo and then your text in the body of the article.

7. Click ‘Post Now,’ or if you are not ready to post, save it as a draft and come back to it later.

We are looking forward to your blogs!