diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b1bdc2d..a1a80e6 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -20,7 +20,11 @@ WriteFreely is a beautifully pared-down blogging platform that's simple on the s
 
 It's designed to be flexible and share your writing widely, so it's built around plain text and can publish to the _fediverse_ via ActivityPub. It's easy to install and lightweight.
 
-**Note** this is currently alpha software. We're quickly moving out of this v0.x stage, but while we're in it, there are no guarantees that this is ready for production use.
+**[Start a blog on our instance](https://write.as/new/blog/federated)**
+
+[Try the editor](https://write.as/new)
+
+[Find another instance](https://writefreely.org/instances)
 
 ## Features
 
@@ -32,6 +36,8 @@ It's designed to be flexible and share your writing widely, so it's built around
 
 ## Quick start
 
+> **Note** this is currently alpha software. We're quickly moving out of this v0.x stage, but while we're in it, there are no guarantees that this is ready for production use.
+
 First, download the [latest release](https://github.com/writeas/writefreely/releases/latest) for your OS. It includes everything you need to start your blog.
 
 Now extract the files from the archive, change into the directory, and do the following steps: