📝 Complete Blog Guide - How to Add & Manage Posts

🚀 Quick Start - Adding a New Post

Method 1: Use a Template (EASIEST)

Go to _drafts/ folder
Choose your category template:
- CAREER-template.md → Career advice, JPMorgan insights
- AI-template.md → AI/ML projects, Georgia Tech lessons
- QUANT-FINANCE-template.md → Finance, trading, algorithms
- LEARNING-template.md → Study tips, course reviews
- PUBLIC-SPEAKING-template.md → Presentations, talks
- YOUTUBE-template.md → Video content
- NONSENSE-template.md → Random fun stuff
Copy the template to _posts/ folder
Rename it: YYYY-MM-DD-your-post-title.md
- Example: 2026-01-21-my-first-career-post.md
Fill in the content - Just replace the example text!
That’s it! Your post is now live.

📁 File Structure

simplisticmartin.github.io/
├── _posts/               ← Published posts go here
│   ├── 2026-01-21-my-post.md
│   └── 2026-01-22-another-post.md
├── _drafts/              ← Templates and drafts
│   ├── CAREER-template.md
│   ├── AI-template.md
│   ├── QUANT-FINANCE-template.md
│   ├── LEARNING-template.md
│   ├── PUBLIC-SPEAKING-template.md
│   ├── YOUTUBE-template.md
│   └── NONSENSE-template.md
└── assets/images/blog/   ← Your post images
    ├── career-default.jpg
    └── ai-default.jpg

✍️ Post Front Matter Explained

Every post starts with “front matter” - metadata between --- lines:

---
layout: post                              # Always "post"
title: "Your Amazing Post Title"          # Shows on blog
date: 2026-01-21 12:00:00                # YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
categories: [career]                      # See categories below
tags: [tag1, tag2, tag3]                 # For SEO and organization
author: Martin Li                         # Your name
read_time: 5                             # Estimated minutes to read
description: "Brief summary"              # For previews & SEO
image: /assets/images/blog/image.jpg     # Optional featured image
---

📚 Blog Categories

Available Categories (use the slug in square brackets)

Category	Slug	When to Use
💼 Career	`[career]`	Job advice, work experiences at JPMC
🤖 AI & ML	`[ai]`	AI projects, ML algorithms, Georgia Tech AI coursework
📈 Quant Finance	`[quant-finance]`	Financial engineering, algorithmic trading
📚 Learning	`[learning]`	Study tips, course reviews, OMSCS experiences
🎤 Public Speaking	`[public-speaking]`	Presentations, talks, communication tips
🎥 YouTube	`[youtube]`	Video content, tutorials
🎲 Nonsense	`[nonsense]`	Random fun stuff, personal thoughts

Multiple Categories

You can assign multiple categories to one post:

categories: [career, ai]              # Career post about AI
categories: [learning, quant-finance] # Learning quant finance

🏷️ Suggested Tags by Category

Career

tags: [software-engineering, jpmorgan-chase, career-advice, professional-development, 
       tech-industry, interviews, resume-tips, networking]

AI & Machine Learning

tags: [artificial-intelligence, machine-learning, deep-learning, neural-networks,
       tensorflow, pytorch, georgia-tech, computer-vision, nlp, reinforcement-learning]

Quant Finance

tags: [quantitative-finance, algorithmic-trading, financial-engineering, options,
       derivatives, portfolio-optimization, risk-management, python, backtrader]

Learning

tags: [georgia-tech, omscs, study-tips, online-learning, course-review,
       time-management, productivity, education, work-life-balance]

Public Speaking

tags: [public-speaking, presentations, technical-talks, communication,
       slides, conference, workshop, teaching]

YouTube

tags: [youtube, video, tutorial, screencast, demo, content-creation,
       video-editing, education]

Nonsense

tags: [random, fun, humor, personal, thoughts, life, musings]

📝 Writing Tips

1. Start with Templates

All templates have a structure that works. Just fill in your content!

2. Keep Paragraphs Short

2-4 sentences max
Makes it easier to read online
Better for mobile viewers

3. Use Headers Properly

# H1 - Only use once (your main title)
## H2 - Major sections
### H3 - Subsections

4. Add Code Blocks

```python
def hello_world():
    print("Code is highlighted automatically!")
```

5. Include Images

![Alt text](/assets/images/blog/my-image.jpg)

Put your images in: assets/images/blog/

6. Use Quotes for Emphasis

> **Pro Tip:** Important insights go in blockquotes!

7. Create Lists

- Bullet point
- Another point

1. Numbered list
2. Another item

🎯 Example: Creating a New Post

Step-by-Step

1. Copy a template:

cp _drafts/CAREER-template.md _posts/2026-01-21-thriving-at-jpmorgan.md

2. Edit the front matter:

---
layout: post
title: "5 Lessons from My First Year at JPMorgan Chase"
date: 2026-01-21 14:30:00
categories: [career]
tags: [jpmorgan-chase, career-advice, software-engineering, tech-industry]
author: Martin Li
read_time: 6
description: "What I learned in my first year as a Software Engineer at JPMorgan Chase"
image: /assets/images/blog/jpmc-office.jpg
---

3. Write your content: Just replace the template text with your actual content!

4. Preview locally:

bundle exec jekyll serve
# Visit http://localhost:4000/Blog.html

5. Publish:

The post is automatically live once it’s in _posts/!
On GitHub Pages, push to deploy

🔍 Testing Your Post

Before Publishing, Check:

File name: YYYY-MM-DD-title.md format
File in _posts/ folder (not _drafts/)
Front matter has all required fields
Categories are correct (lowercase slugs)
Date is correct
Images load (if used)
Links work
Code blocks format correctly
No typos (run spell check!)

Preview Locally:

cd simplisticmartin.github.io
bundle exec jekyll serve --drafts  # Include drafts

Visit: http://localhost:4000/Blog.html

🎨 Customizing Post Appearance

Featured Images

Add a featured image that shows on the blog card:

image: /assets/images/blog/my-image.jpg

Image Guidelines:

Size: 1200x630px (optimal for social sharing)
Format: JPG or PNG
Keep under 500KB
Use descriptive names

Read Time

Estimate reading time (words ÷ 200):

read_time: 5  # 5 minutes

📊 Blog Categories System

How Categories Work

Category Cards - Show on main blog page
Filter Buttons - Click to filter posts
Auto-Count - Shows number of posts per category
URL Links - Direct link: /Blog.html#career

Posts automatically filter when users:

Click a category card
Click a filter button
Visit with a URL hash: /Blog.html#ai

🚀 Pro Tips

1. Use Drafts Folder

Work on posts in _drafts/ first. Jekyll won’t publish them until you move them to _posts/.

2. Date Format is Important

✅ GOOD: 2026-01-21-my-post.md
❌ BAD:  01-21-2026-my-post.md
❌ BAD:  2026-1-21-my-post.md  (needs leading zero)

3. Hyphens vs Underscores

✅ GOOD: my-awesome-post.md
❌ BAD:  my_awesome_post.md

4. Preview Before Publishing

Always run bundle exec jekyll serve to preview locally first!

5. Commit Messages

git add _posts/2026-01-21-new-post.md
git commit -m "Add: New career post about JPMorgan"
git push

🆘 Troubleshooting

Post Not Showing?

Check file name format: YYYY-MM-DD-title.md
Check date isn’t in the future
File must be in _posts/ folder
Check front matter has layout: post

Images Not Loading?

Check path: /assets/images/blog/image.jpg
Check file actually exists
Check file name spelling (case-sensitive)

Category Not Filtering?

Use lowercase slug: [career] not [Career]
Check category is defined in _config.yml
Clear browser cache

Server Won’t Start?

# Try cleaning and rebuilding
bundle exec jekyll clean
bundle exec jekyll serve

📅 Content Calendar Ideas

Career Posts

Monthly: “What I Learned This Month at JPMC”
Quarterly: “Career Growth Q1 Review”
As-needed: Technical interviews, promotions, projects

AI Posts

Per course: Georgia Tech OMSCS course reviews
Per project: ML project writeups
Weekly: AI paper summaries

Learning Posts

Semester: Course reflections
Monthly: Study techniques that worked
As-needed: Resource recommendations

✅ Quick Checklist for Each Post

Before Publishing:
☐ File named correctly: YYYY-MM-DD-title.md
☐ In _posts/ folder
☐ Front matter complete
☐ Categories assigned
☐ Tags added
☐ Description written (< 160 chars)
☐ Content proofread
☐ Code blocks tested
☐ Images optimized
☐ Previewed locally
☐ All links work

🎉 You’re Ready!

Start with a template, fill in your content, and publish! The blog system handles everything else automatically.

Need help? Check the templates in _drafts/ - they have examples for everything!

Happy blogging! 📝✨

📝 Complete Blog Guide - How to Add & Manage Posts

📝 Complete Blog Guide - How to Add & Manage Posts

🚀 Quick Start - Adding a New Post

Method 1: Use a Template (EASIEST)

📁 File Structure

✍️ Post Front Matter Explained

📚 Blog Categories

Available Categories (use the slug in square brackets)

Multiple Categories

🏷️ Suggested Tags by Category

Career

AI & Machine Learning

Quant Finance

Learning

Public Speaking

YouTube

Nonsense

📝 Writing Tips

1. Start with Templates

2. Keep Paragraphs Short

3. Use Headers Properly

4. Add Code Blocks

5. Include Images

6. Use Quotes for Emphasis

7. Create Lists

🎯 Example: Creating a New Post

Step-by-Step

🔍 Testing Your Post

Before Publishing, Check:

Preview Locally:

🎨 Customizing Post Appearance

Featured Images

Read Time

📊 Blog Categories System

How Categories Work

Category Filter

🚀 Pro Tips

1. Use Drafts Folder

2. Date Format is Important

3. Hyphens vs Underscores

4. Preview Before Publishing

5. Commit Messages

🆘 Troubleshooting

Post Not Showing?

Images Not Loading?

Category Not Filtering?

Server Won’t Start?

📅 Content Calendar Ideas

Career Posts

AI Posts

Learning Posts

✅ Quick Checklist for Each Post

🎉 You’re Ready!