Since I have been teaching blogging to my students at ASU this semester I thought it might be a good idea to post the How To here. Happy Blogging!
How to Post to your WordPress blog
1. Go to http://wordpress.com/
2. On the far right click on “sign up now”
3. Fill out this one-step form
Note the user name will be your blog name
Fill out completely
Click “next” at the bottom of the page
4. Blog Domain will be: username.wordpress.com
5. Change blog title if need be to how you prefer it to read
Click “signup” at the bottom of the page
6. Check Your Email to Complete Registration
7. From your e-mail click the link to activate your blog – it will open to a new window and say “Your account is now active!”
8. Log In
9. Will open to your dash board
10. On the left hand side – click on “posts”
11. Click on the box next to “Hello world!” and trash this. You do not want your first post to be the automatically generated post.
12. Click on Appearances (on left hand side)
13. Choose a theme – don’t over think it just choose one – you can change it 10 minutes later!
14. Also under Appearances is widgets. Click on this to select items you’d like to have appear on your blog such as Archives or calendar. When you find one you want just drag it over to the right to place it under “Sidebar” give it a title. As an example you may want to title archives and previous posts.
15. Users should only be you – unless you want to have a shared blog then you can set up others.
16. Click on Settings –
Under General: remove the “Just another WordPress.com weblog” all together or add your own sub-title. Make any other changes needed and up load an image if desired. At bottom click on “save changes”
All others under Settings– just do a quick click through to make any changes that seem appropriate for your needs.
17. Tools – unlikely that you will need to make any changes under this option.
18. upgrades – no need to add and $$ on at this time – maybe something to investigate down the road.
19. The only other tab you may want to mess with today is the links tab – if you have a website you may want to link it to your blog. Click on the links tab on the left hand side (mid way down) REMOVE the wordpress.com and wordpress.org. Click “add new” Name it and then paste the web address in, add a description if it makes sense to do so. Do not worry about Target, links relationship or Advanced at this time. Click the blue “add link” to the right. Do this for as many locations as you want to link.
20. How To Post:
· Click on posts on the left hand side
· Click “Add New”
· Fill in a title at top
· Type text in large box below (make sure the grey tab “visual” is selected unless you know html (NOTE: visual is the default) The menu is also right there above the big box much the same options as in Word.
· To add photos, video, audio, media or polls – click on the icon next to “Upload/Insert” and follow the step by step instructions. Make sure all photos or other media meet the DPI settings or they will not load. Generally the same as for a low res e-mail or facebook.
21. To add in a hot link: Highlight the word(s) you want to link – the button in the menu that looks like a chain link will highlight – click on that button – under Link URL: fill in the web address you want to link to, under Target: always select “open link in a new window”. Do nothing with title or class. Click “insert” It will automatically return to your post page and that which you highlighter will now be a different color and will be a link.
22. Do not worry about Excerpt or Send Trackbacks
23. Under Discussion – click “allow comments”
24. On the right hand side under Post Tags: type (titles for content) for your post each time you post inside the box that says “add new tag” then click the “ADD” button. This creates your tags cloud. Once you have a tag under a specific thread of content you need not type it again. Instead click on “choose from the most used tags in Post tags” this will drop down all your tags to choose from.
25. Categories – you can do this same thing to create and use categories – treat these like a menu of options you might have on a website.
26. Once you feel good about all elements of your post click “PUBLISH” once the “waiting” circle has stopped spinning you can click “view post” at the top of the page to see what it looks like. If you have found anything you are unhappy with either click the back button or click “edit” under your post. You can then make changes and the click UPDATE to save those changes.
NOTE: when you receive the welcome info e-mail from word press – save it. It tells you how to make important changes.
