10 Tips to Jumpstart Your eHarlequin.com Community Experience

We're proud to announce some great new features and are happy to provide you with a Top 10 List that will help you get off on the right foot in the NEW eHarlequin.com community space. Here goes:

10 Tips to Jumpstart Your eHarlequin.com Community Experience....

1. Register: We know every Website says this, and you're probably tired of hearing it, but it's true. You really do want to register because as a member,
   you'll be able to share your thoughts on your favorite books and
   authors, subscribe to your favorite blogs and discussions, create a
   fabulous profile page AND create your own content. That's right,
   everyone gets their own Blog at eHarlequin.com, as of January 1, 2008!
2. Create a profile page and Introduce yourself:
   Now that you've Registered/Logged in, the next step is to create a fabu
   profile. Click the "My Profile" button at the top of the page to access
   your new profile page. At the top of that page you'll see two links,
   "VIEW", and "EDIT". Click the "EDIT" link and look at all of the
   information you are now able to share. (NOTE: This information is
   public so if there's something there that you don't want the world to
   know, leave it blank or put something really generic into that field.)
   Be sure to upload a photograph of yourself or an icon that really
   represents YOU because that photo or icon is going to be visible all
   over the eHarlequin.com community pages, not only on your blog and
   forum posts but in your friend’s gallery and maybe even as a Featured
   Member. Instant fame!
3. Read discussions and talk back:
   Now it's time to introduce yourself. The server might know you've
   arrived but nobody else will until you step into the spotlight and
   introduce yourself in the Forums.
   It’s a good idea to add your name to the tag list in your blog posts
   and blog entries, or in your signature. You do want people to come and
   visit your new blog, don't you? (So you know: There's a signature block
   feature within your profile. If you missed it, click "My Profile" on
   the top right corner and scroll down to "signature". HTML is accepted
   in this box so you can pretty your signature up, if you like.)
4. Read blogs and comment:
   Our hosts and community members are fascinating human beings who have a
   lot to share. You can surf their blog posts by checking out the home
   page for Recent and Featured Blog Posts by clicking into Most Commented
   or by clicking on their name in the Tag Cloud. You can even click the
   "Most Favorited" tab and find out which blog posts are the most
   popular! We've learned that all of that great blog reading may entice
   you to comment and we hope you will. We want to know what you think -
   and to help introduce you to other people who would like to get to know
   you by clicking back to your blog, either through your profile or
   signature.
5. Start blogging on eHarlequin.com:
   Look up at the top right corner again and click the button that says
   "Create Content". On the next menu, select “ Blog Entry" and start
   blogging! To add a book review to the 100,000 Book Challenge select
   “Book Review” When you publish your blog post, you'll be able to find
   it on the front page immediately, in the "Recent Blog Posts" tab.
   You'll also find it in the "Favorites" tab under your personal
   information on your Profile Page if you choose to select it.
6. Subscribe: You can subscribe to electronic newsletters that
   will allow you to keep your finger on the pulse of current member news
   and special deals here at eHarlequin.com. You'll never be out of the
   loop again. If newsletters aren't your thing, (You're all about Web 2.0
   aren't you?), RSS is here.
   We have RSS feeds for every area of the community - from the Blog pages
   to the Forums, to you yourself and anything you care to keep tabs on in
   the community!
7. Play with tags: If you look on the right side of the community pages, just beneath your content controls list, you'll see a section called "Tags".
   Tags are a bit like keywords for search. Hosts and members tag their
   content to help link content together. This makes it easy for you to
   find every single bit of content available in community related to that
   keyword. The "tag list" you see displayed is created based on the most
   recently used tags. When you're creating blog posts, be sure to type "
   tags" that will help others find your content when they are searching
   the site. If you like, you can even use your community name as a tag to
   create a distinct URL to give out to others so they can bookmark it or
   add to their favorites.. Here’s an example: If you’re blogging about a
   Silhouette Desire, you’ll choose the series category “Silhouette
   Desire” from the drop down menu, but we also recommend you tag the
   review with the theme (boy next door/amnesia/jilted), miniseries (The
   Wrong Bed) or setting (New Orleans) to make sure it gets picked up by
   people interested in similar types of reads.
8. Share:
   You'll probably notice pretty quickly that there is a brand new link at
   the bottom of all Community blog posts and discussion posts that says
   "share". If you click it, you'll see a handful of social bookmarking
   icons that will allow you to share content you've enjoyed with the
   world or search for others who have shared this content. What? You
   haven't registered for Digg or De.lici.ous or Technorati? What are you waiting for?
9. Go surfing: Click
   on the Blog tab in the top, horizontal navigation bar and you can
   access all of the fabulous community blogs at your fingertips. You can
   start surfing by most viewed, most discussed, most recent, and most
   favorited or simply navigate to your friends gallery and have fun
   picking random blogs from your buddy’s list of favorite content. Select
   the Forums tab in the navigation bar at the top and you can see all of
   the wonderful conversation that’s occuring on the eHarlequin.com Forums
   by series, imprint, author or jump into a discussion on the Café Social
   and really get to know some of your fellow eHarlequin.com citizens.
10. "Pick a color", any color: OK, not any color...but three is a lot more than you'll find at some of those other websites, and two more than we had on our old site .
    Did you notice those three tiny blocks of color and the invitation to
    "pick a color" in your profile page "EDIT" console? Click one and see
    what happens! Cool, right?

Well, that's our Top Ten Tips. Thanks for reading. We’d love to know
what you think of our new site and how you’d like to be able to use it.
Please come tell us in our forums, Using this link.

p.s. We couldn't resist just one more Top Ten Eleven Tip!
If you notice that the posts from other people are displaying as if
they were posted in the future, just go to your Profile page and choose
the correct time zone that you live in. Like magic, you'll be back to
the future!

Jayne

Community Manager
"We cannot really love anybody with whom we never laugh"—Agnes Repplier