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Increase Your Profile Views, also Creating an Urban Food Project

Join the Conversation and Pay it Forward

Nurturing growth and success is up to every one of us

I’m writing a series of feature articles to discuss and illustrate the innovative ways we are collaborating on Illumination.

To keep it interesting, I’ll shine a light on solutions to some of your difficulties and answer any questions that come to me each day.

I’ll also share one of the many ways I have discovered to connect with fellow writers and readers.

Well hello there.

In case we’ve never met, I’m Tree Langdon, an editor here at Illumination. I’m continuously inspired by the talented writers I’ve met here. I’d really like to get to know you too.

Writers Are Making Meaningful Change!

There are some trailblazing, collaborative projects being developed at Illumination.

Dr. Mehmet Yildiz has proposed the creation of projects as a new way to share information and collaborate.

We’re Creating a Project Together!

In my last article, I selected a topic for a project and we were brainstorming a suitable name.

Thanks for these fantastic suggestions.

Growing with Gaia

the Urban Food Project

Urban Munch Bunch

After much consideration, I’ve chosen the Urban Food Project as the project name.

Thanks to the lovely and talented Paroma Sen for the suggestion.

So, we move on to the next step.

• “Use this name in the kicker. By keeping the same kicker name, you can create multiple stories related to your chosen topic.”

The Kicker name we will use is:

Illumination Special Project |The Urban Food Project

• The next step is “Write an introduction. Tell us who you are and why you are passionate about this project.”

The Urban Food Project is an Initiative within the Illumination publication. My role is that of Project Facilitator. I will help bring together other readers and writers interested in Urban Food concerns.

We will share our experiences and hopefully create projects in your local community.

We will discover and share resources, including books and videos as well as personal experiences with creating and supporting Urban Food in your city.

Your articles can include a wide range of topics or subjects including:

-Book reviews

-Stories about initiatives in your city with links to relevant news articles or resources.

-Interviews and discussions with leaders in your city

-Concrete steps you or others are taking to improve the Urban Food situation.

-The securing of vacant land for community gardens.

-Creation of balcony size garden kits from inexpensive, easy to find materials.

-Any other relevant topic or subject related to Urban Food.

-Go wild! Surprise us!

I think we have enough to introduce the project! I’m going to complete this article by adding specific ACTIONS I want readers and writers to take, such as joining the project, writing an article, or sending relevant links.

I’ll add tags, a great eye-catching image, and a few interesting links. If you want me to tag you, please let me know.

I believe the Urban Garden Project has the potential to become a powerful way to initiate support food security for people in cities.

If this interests you, I invite you to participate. Join the conversation and be sure to add my tag @treelangdon.

You will meet a diverse group of like-minded individuals and you’ll also be building your network.

How does Curation Work?

In a nutshell, write quality articles and pay attention to tags, kickers, format, and Medium curation rules.

I recently wrote about focusing on an Irresistible Post.

Here’s my take on curation from when I was a new writer.

Our team of editors and writers are ready and willing to assist you with any questions or problems you may be experiencing.

The key to a meaningful conversation includes both speaking and listening.

A meaningful conversation between writers includes reading, responding, sharing and appreciation.

Keep on reading to see how you can have that conversation, but first, let’s explore your questions about writing.

Answers to your Burning Questions

Do you have a burning question?

This is your opportunity. Add your question as a comment here and I’ll be happy to answer it. Do you have a terrific tip for our writers? Add it in the comments!

Let’s share our experiences and learn from each other.

Here’s a recent question from a reader.

How Do I increase my profile views?

Here’s an easy tip to increase your visibility in a subtle way.

Link your Medium profile to your title.

Usually, I see authors do this when their title includes their name.

Consider the title: Top Stories by Tree Langdon.

I could embed my Medium name in the Title by typing @treelangdon and allowing it to link to my profile. The title would look like this:

Top Stories by Tree Langdon ♾️

When the story appears in the publication and you roll your cursor over my name, my profile comes up. A potential reader sees the short bio from my profile page.

This is how the same story looks if you embed it in an article. You can’t see the link, but it’s there.

I’ve done the same thing with my name in the subtitle of the article below. When you view the article, the link is visible in the subtitle in my name and you see my profile when your cursor rolls over the link.

I tried one more thing. I used the hyperlink option and put the hyperlink to my profile in the word Curation in the Kicker (the title above the main title).

You don’t see it until you go to the Publication and view the article there.

You can see that the word Curation in the Kicker is underlined. That tells the reader there’s a link there. It’s a subtle change but effective.

Voila — more profile views!

All Our Stories In One Place — The Daily distribution list

Another way to engage with writers at ILLUMINATION is by checking out the daily distribution list. It includes the stories in the last 24 hours. When you write something and publish on ILLUMINATION your article will appear there too! Here’s the archive that includes all of the posts.

Writers Connect to Build Engagement!

As a lifelong learner, I gather new ideas by observing how other writers engage with their readers. In this section of my bulletin, I will share what I have learned.

Here’s a recent idea.

Find Illumination authors that featured their 5 best stories, read them, and review them. Here’s mine.

I made a great connection with Jennifer Geer and made some new friends in her community. I also had the joyful experience of getting to know her work.

**You can find these stories on Illumination by using the search feature with the search words ‘ 5 best’.

More on conversations here:

If you test this idea for yourself, tag me, Tree Langdon, ♾️ and let me know how it worked for you.

Let’s Talk About Slack

We collaborate with published authors, bloggers, and other service providers to extend our network. Join us on our Slack channel to participate.

Slack is our main communication tool. You can send a request via this link to join. Mention “slack request” in the message.

Here are some tips to get up and running with Slack.

We’re here to support you and want you to be successful.

All we ask in return, is that you do the same.

Meet the Editors

Here is our complete list of Editor bios! Discover who they are and what makes them tick.

Today’s Challenge- Create a Project at Illumination:

Follow my steps as I create the Urban Garden Project and create a project of your own. You can find the steps are in this article:

If you tag me I will feature your project here.

It’s a win win — you support the project, and we support you.

If you want to catch up on previous bulletins, have a look here:

Greetings to a few of our newer writers and some who have been here for a bit longer. I hope you found something interesting in this article. Jump in and start a conversation.

It’s the best way to connect and the connection is how you increase engagement.

Dr. John Rose, Alison Tennent, Earnest Painter, B. A. Cumberlidge., Timothy Key, Desiree Driesenaar, Claire Michaeljohn, QuadConjures, Infiniti, Eli Snow, Daniel G. Clark, Eashan Reddy Kotha, Paroma Sen, Keno Ogbo, James G Brennan Uchechi Obasi, Timothy Key, Holly Jahangiri, Joe Luca, Charlotte Zobeir Ali, Kathryn A. LeRoy, Ph.D. Earnest Painter, Eeva Metssalu, Paroma Sen

Eric Dickey, Glennis Lofland, Kapilgoel, Halimah Kasim, Manmeet Singh, Manvendra Singh, Nehal Khan, Raqeebah Buhari, Thor Blomfield, Muniza Master, Ja’Juan Burrell, Wie Kiang H., Russell Rowe, Liza Blue, 𝙳𝚊𝚗𝚒 𝙶𝚒𝚋𝚋𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙼𝚌𝙶𝚊𝚠, Franco Amati, Amy Skeel, Michelle Tjin, Deborah Oyegue, Irish Toffee, JustAnnet 👑, Ishan Kukrety, Michael Thorn, Ryan Porter, Caden O’Rourke, Nehal Khan, Liane Carmi, Michael Seppanen, Bhathiya Wendakoon, MD, BSc,

If you know someone who might want to join our growing, joyful, and supportive publication as a writer, please leave a message via this link.

Collaboration is a two way street. Join the conversation and be a part of this meaningful change.

Illumination is all about being engaged in a positive and supportive way. We can’t wait to hear what you have to say!

Tag me @treelangdon or add a message to this post if you’d like to connect. I’m a‘Top Writer’ in Poetry on Medium. Find me on Twitter and Facebook.*