Monday, November 3, 2008

How To Create A Blog Page Using Wordpress

By Don Bethune

Wordpress is a great utility for starting your first blog. Many choose Wordpress over other competitors for its clean interface, high usability, and ease-of-use. So, if you are looking to create your first page on the Internet, Wordpress is a perfect place to start. Creating a page in Wordpress is much easier than one would think. In this article, I will show you how to open a Wordpress account, create your first page, and write your first post.

Creating a Wordpress account is an easy task. On the wordpress.com website, click on "sign up now". The first thing you need to do is create a username. This name will be displayed when others read your posts. After creating a username, you need to choose a password. You need to have a secure password, since poor passwords can compromise your account. Type this word into the "password" field. You will need to re-type it into "confirm" field. To create an account, you will need an e-mail address. E-mail addresses are provided free of charge by most ISPs. You can also obtain a free e-mail address at gmail.com, hotmail.com or yahoo.com. Select the link to "fascinating terms of service" to read the terms and conditions. When you check the box next to that, you are finished. Next step is to select the radio button for "Gimme a blog". This button has to be selected in order to create a blog page. Click on the "submit" button and check your e-mail for a confirmation message from Wordpress. To confirm your account, follow the link for the confirmation of your account. Congratulations, now you have a Wordpress account.

When you access your Wordpress account, you should be in your dashboard, where you can create blog pages and change general settings for your next blog. On your homepage, select "write a new page" and then "change theme" button. You will be taken to a page that displays all the themes available for your blog. You can view themes with similar colors, styles or width. If you are unsure of what you want, you can browse available styles by clicking "next" at the bottom of the page. Browse through the styles until you find a suitable one.

Widgets can also be very useful when compiling a blog. These will aid you and you readers in reading and digesting your blog, and syndicating accounts with other websites into Wordpress. Click on the "Design" tab and then "Widgets" to see what you can do to increase usability of your blog. Click the "add" link next to one that intrigues you. I would recommend "Archives", "Meta", and "Search".

If your style allows it, you can add a custom image header. Click the "design" tab and then "custom image header". To select an image from your computer that you would like to add, click "browse" and then navigate to the image that you would like to add. Choose your image wisely, keeping in mind that images may be cropped to be usable by the blog page.

You can buy upgrades for your blog if you would like to perform functions such as removing ads and adding extra storage space. To get an upgrade, click on "upgrade" and choose the upgrade that you would like to use. After you make your selection, fill in the required information and confirm your selection. Upgrades can often make blogs more functional.

The most important part of your blog is the content itself. Choose a topic that interests you, you may simply want to write about your life. Decide if you want to post daily, bi-weekly, or weekly. This will influence how long your posts should be. Keep posts simple and to the point. More people will read your blog if you keep things to the point and very linguistic.

That's it! You have just learned how to create a blog, design, widgetize, customize, upgrade, and write your blog. Congratulations, you are one more person with one more idea that enhances the blogosphere. Thank you for your educated and comprehensive addition.

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