• You must be logged in to upload content. to log-in, click on the white log in button at the top of the page.
• Is your password robust? If not - fix it now via the right hand panel
• Fill your profile in and upload a photo using the options on the right hand panel of your private home page.
• Browse the communities (see main menu navigation) and join any of interest
• Click on » Create a new blog at the top of the page to blog right away

The detailed guide - terminology

• Profile - a short page about yourself with an optional photo
• Post - a single item - a single web page that you can create using our edit form
• Blog - your personal blog - lists your profile and all your posts by date
• Group - a group of like minded people posting on a specific topic

Blogs, groups and profiles are visible to all visitors, however you need to be a member and logged in to contact other members and post content.

First things first - stay secure

Anyone who can guess your password could potentially access the site and start posting items in your name. If your password is guessable (a name for example) then change it now - use the password link in the panel on the right. Try a mix of numbers, letters and deliberate mis-spellings.

Sort your profile

On the left hand of the page you will see your personal control panel. You can see this at any time by logging in and clicking on HOME in the top blue bar.

This allows you to:

• upload a photograph of yourself
• fill in your public profile - current job and career history and interests
• change your newsletter preferences and password 

Next steps - join some groups

Browse the list of groups via the link in the left navigation panel and join any you are interested in either from the listing or via the "join" link in the right hand panel on relevant group pages.

You don't need to join any groups to blog - but you need to be a member of any groups you wish to post blogs in. If you can't find a group that interests you - you can suggest we create one. Email a suggested name and a sentence explaining the topic and we'll add it if it seems appropriate. You can see your groups from the link in the top bar.

Create some content

In the top blue bar you'll see a short cut to your blog posts. Use this to view your existing blog posts or to start a new item. To link your blog post directly to an item on Finextra: 

• Choose "start a new blog post related to a Finextra item"
• Find a story on Finextra
• Click on the "blog about this now!" link against the story
• Fill in the blog form and optionally choose channels and a community
• Preview and edit as required or click publish

Save your work

When editing your blog you should click the SAVE button every ten minutes or so - just in case! If your work is saved, you can log out and return later to carry on editing. Click on MY BLOGS and you can retrieve your work. It is worth proofing your work for typos and suchlike one last time before you choose to publish.

Note the site will time you out after thirty minutes of inactivity, but always log out when you're done.

As well as posting blogs, in the right hand panel, the my "favourite sites" let's you add a list of your preferred web sites.

Build your network!

As you browse member profiles - have a look at the "networking" options that appear in the right hand panel. You can add members to your bookmarks or contact them using the messaging system.

You can see who has bookmarked you using the "my messages" and "my network" links in the top bar.

View comments and stats

After you've created some posts, you can monitor how well they're doing through the "my blogs" link in the top bar.

Netiquette

We do have some terms and conditions - see the help page - it's all fairly routine stuff.