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Second EditionTRIS HUSSEY800 East 96th Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46240

iiCreate Your Own Blog:6 Easy Projects to Start Blogging Like a ProSecond EditionCopyright 2012 by Sams PublishingAll rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,without written permission from the publisher. No patentliability is assumed with respect to the use of the informationcontained herein. Although every precaution has been takenin the preparation of this book, the publisher and authorassume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Nor is anyliability assumed for damages resulting from the use of theinformation contained herein.ISBN-13: 978-0-672-33597-6ISBN-10: 0-672-33597-2Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file.First Printing May 2012TrademarksEditor-in-ChiefGreg WiegandAcquisitions EditorMichelle NewcombDevelopment EditorTodd BrakkeManaging EditorSandra SchroederProject EditorSeth KerneyCopy EditorBarbara HachaAll terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized.Sams Publishing cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded asaffecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.IndexerLarry SweazyWarning and DisclaimerTechnical EditorCatherine WintersEvery effort has been made to make this book as complete andas accurate as possible, but no warranty or fitness is implied.The information provided is on an “as is” basis. The authorand the publisher shall have neither liability nor responsibilityto any person or entity with respect to any loss or damagesarising from the information contained in this book.ProofreaderSheri CainPublishing CoordinatorCindy TeetersBulk SalesDesignerGary AdairSams Publishing offers excellent discounts on this book whenordered in quantity for bulk purchases or special sales. Formore information, please contactCompositorBronkella PublishingU.S. Corporate and Government or sales outside of the U.S., please contactInternational Salesinternational@pearsoned.com

iiiContents at a GlanceIntroduction1 Beginning the Story: Blogging Then and Now172 Installing and Setting Up Your First Blog173 Creating Content for Your Blog554 Building a Community Around Your Blog775 Creating a Personal Blog with WordPress.com916 Creating a Business Blog1237 Creating a Website1438 Creating a Visual Artist’s Portfolio Blog1779 Blogging with Tumblr19110 Creating a Multimedia Blog20511 Making Money Through Your Blog237Index257

IVTable of ContentsAdministration Block: Appearance,Plugins, Users, Tools, andSettings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Introduction1About the Second Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2It’s All About Storytelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Wait, You’re a Professional Blogger? . . . . 3How to Use This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Beginning the Story: Blogging Then andNow7. . . . . . . . . . . . 42Tweaking Your Blog SetupTweaking and Tuning aWordPress.com Blog . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Setting Good Permalinks. . . . . . . . 47Antispam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48SEO Tuning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Categories and Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Blogrolls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.8Comments and Trackbacks . . . . . . 51The Blog Heard Round the World:Blogging Gets MainstreamAttention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51A Brief History of BloggingBlogging Comes into Its Own. . . 12Culture of Sharing, Connecting,and Caring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Blogs, Society, and the News. . . . . 13Gaze into the Looking Glassand the Future of Blogging. . . . 15Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 Installing and Setting Up YourFirst Blog17Starting Your First Blog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Choosing a Topic for Your Blog . . 18Picking a Name for Your Blog . . . 19Choosing a Domain Name . . . . . . 23Choosing a Blog Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Getting Started. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Signing Up for a Blog onWordPress.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Setting Up a Self-Hosted Blog . . . . 32Touring Your Blog’s Dashboard . . . . . . . . 38Content Block: Posts, Media,Links, Pages, and Comments. . 38About Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Themes and Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Tracking Your Blog’s Stats. . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543 Creating Content for Your Blog55Turning an Idea for a Blog into BlogPosts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Capture Inspiration Wheneverand Wherever It Strikes . . . . . . . . 57Finding Your “Voice”. . . . . . . . . . . . 60To Anonymously Blog or Not:The Line Between Publicand Private . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Write Until You’ve Said YourPiece. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64If You Post It, They Will Come:Posting Frequency Answered . . . 65Your First Post. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

VDrinking from the Information FireHose: Using the Internet to PowerYour Posts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Other Bloggers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Focus on the Content—What to Putin a Personal Blog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108Privacy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112Reader Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113.73Pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Adding Videos to Your Posts . . . . 118. . . . . . 75Growing with WordPress.com . . . . . . . . 120Categories and Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122”Real” WorldWriting with Search Engines in MindKeywordsWriting for Search EnginesSummary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766 Creating a Business Blog4 Building a Community AroundYour Blog77Encouraging Comments andDiscussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Commenting on Other Blogs . . . . 80Spam, Trolls, and Other Vermin:The Comments You Don’t Want123Content. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Privacy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Blogging Policies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130. . . . . 80Multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132Trolls and Other Vermin . . . . . . . . . 82Podcasting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Finding Other Blogs in Your Niche . . . . 83Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Building and Hosting Your BusinessBlog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138SpamLinking to Other BlogsConnecting with Other Bloggers. . . . . . . 87Twitter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Choosing a Template for YourBusiness Blog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138Facebook, Google , and OtherSocial Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Stats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 905 Creating a Personal Blog withWordPress.comSummary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1417 Creating a Website91Isn’t This a Blogging Book?143. . . . . . . . . . 144Getting Started with WordPress.com . . . 92Blog Engines to Run Websites . . 144. . . . . . . . . . 93Blogs Are the New Websites . . . . 145Key WordPress.com Settingsand Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96Let Technology Help You . . . . . . . 145Creating Your AccountThemes and Customizations . . . 100

viIt’s About the Content . . . . . . . . . . 145Final Touches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174Does a Website Have to Havea Blog, Too? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146Measuring Your Success . . . . . . . . 175Getting Started: Technology . . . . . . . . . . 146Maintaining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Domain NameHostSearch Engines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146Platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147Getting Started: Content. . . . . . . . . . . . . 147Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148Required Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148Getting Started: Installing WordPressand Other Key Components . . . . . . . . 149Installing WordPress. . . . . . . . . . . . 149Installing Plugins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149Recommended Plugins . . . . . . . . . 156Installing Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156What Will the Home Page Be? . . . . . . . 161Static. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162Modular . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166Choosing and Customizing YourTheme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168Headers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168Backgrounds8 Creating a Visual Artist’s PortfolioBlog177What Makes for Good Content ona Portfolio Blog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178Picking the Right Tool for the Job . . . . 179WordPress.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180DIY or Self-Hosted Blogs . . . . . . . . 180How Do I Choose BetweenWordPress.com and DIY?. . . . . 180Making a Site a Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181Picking a Good Theme for aPortfolio Blog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181Plugins for Portfolio Blogs . . . . . . 183Pulling It All Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185Gathering, Exporting, andPresenting Pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . 185Final Word on Content . . . . . . . . . 189Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169Widgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171Choosing Content for Your Website . . 1729 Blogging with Tumblr191Why Tumblr and Not Others? . . . . . . . . 192Getting Started with Tumblr. . . . . . . . . 192Post or Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172Creating a BlogCategories and Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . 173Tumblr Versus WordPress . . . . . . . 204Images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173Multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

vii10 Creating a Multimedia Blog205All About Audio and Video Content .206Podcast Gear. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208Recording Your First Podcast. . . . . . . . . 209Laying Down the Main Track . . 211Podcast Editing Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213Adding Audio Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . 214Fades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214Podsafe Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215Exporting to MP3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217Video Gear. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219Recording Your First Video Blog . . . . . . 221Video Editing Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224Exporting, Compression, and VideoFormats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227Resolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228Where and How to Host YourPodcast or Video Blog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230Posting Podcasts and Videoto Your Blog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230Submitting Your Show toiTunes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23411 Making Money Through Your Blog237Nuts and Bolts of Making Moneyfrom Blogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238Making Money Directly . . . . . . . . 238Making Money IndirectlyFinal Word on Ads. . . . . . 244. . . . . . . . . . . . . 250Pulling It Together on Your Blog. . . . . 250Ad Codes 101. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250Optimizing Your Blog’sTemplate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252Tracking Your Performance. . . . 253Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255Index257

viiiAbout the AuthorTris Hussey started blogging on a whim and then found himself as Canada’s first professionalblogger. Tris has worked for several blogging and media startups and has taught new mediaat the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Tris teaches blogging, WordPress, andpodcasting through the University of British Columbia.In addition, Tris finds time to speak, guest lecture, and contribute to the social mediacommunity in and around Vancouver. When not doing all this, Tris manages the marketingand social media for Simply.ca.DedicationFor my Dad, who always told me to read the manuals.

ixAcknowledgmentsWhen I started the first edition of this book, I never in my wildest dreams would havethought that I would have not only written two more books since, but also be writing asecond edition to this book! I feel blessed and honored that I’m able to do this. Of course,writing a book—even a second edition—isn’t an easy job. So I have tons and tons of peopleto thank.This book couldn’t have happened without the help, direction, and prodding of many, manypeople. Thanks to Paul Chaney for believing that I could do this book in the first place andletting the publisher know this. Thank you to my brilliant technical editor, CatherineWinters, for keeping me straight. Thanks to the whole editorial team at Pearson—I couldn’task for better editors and support. Michelle Newcomb, my acquisitions editor, patiently waitsfor my tardy email replies. Someday I’ll get better, Michelle. Thanks to Rob Cottingham ofSocial Signals for the cartoon at the beginning of Chapter 5, and to my friends and familyfor inspiring and supporting me while I’ve been writing this book. Most importantly, thankyou to my beloved wife, Sheila, for supporting me and believing in me through this wholeprocess—again!

xWe Want to Hear from You!As the reader of this book, you are our most important critic and commentator. We valueyour opinion and want to know what we’re doing right, what we could do better, what areasyou’d like to see us publish in, and any other words of wisdom you’re willing to pass ourway.You can email or write me directly to let me know what you did or didn’t like about thisbook—as well as what we can do to make our books stronger.Please note that I cannot help you with technical problems related to the topic of this book, and thatdue to the high volume of mail I receive, I might not be able to reply to every message.When you write, please be sure to include this book’s title and author as well as your nameand phone or email address. I will carefully review your comments and share them with theauthor and editors who worked on the book.E-mail:consumer@samspublishing.comMail:Greg WiegandEditor-in-ChiefSams Publishing800 East 96th StreetIndianapolis, IN 46240 USAReader ServicesVisit our website and register this book at informit.com/register for convenient access to anyupdates, downloads, or errata that might be available for this book.

CHAPTER 5Creating a Personal Blogwith WordPress.com

92CHAPTER 5CREATING A PERSONAL BLOG WITH WORDPRESS.COMIt seems a little redundant to talk about creating a personal blog, because in the beginningall blogs were personal. To have a businessblog was anathema to bloggers. Making a blogthat is all about “you” is the heart of personalblogging. You is in quotes because, as you’velearned, who “you” are online depends on howmuch or how little you want to reveal. Becausethis is a personal blog, it’s intended to reflectyour beliefs, hobbies, and family—essentially,who you are.I think many people dismiss personal blogs asless serious than “professional” or “business”blogs, but I think it’s just the opposite. Personalblogs are very serious, even if the subjectmatter isn’t. What’s more important than whoyou are? Because the origins of blogging centeron the personal blog, it’s important not todismiss them out of hand.I first started blogging to learn about it forprofessional reasons and to have an outlet forthings I wasn’t doing at work. My blog was theepitome of the personal blog. In my case, myblog was mostly about collaboration tools, software, and other geek esoterica. Still, it waspersonal, and, because I expressed myself welland made some local connections, my humbleblog became a springboard to my presentcareer. However, there is a strange hybrid herethat is worth noting, the personal-businessblog. My blog falls under that category becauseit is my personal blog, but it serves to driveand support my professional career and business life.This chapter takes what you’ve learned in theprevious four chapters and builds on it so youcan go from a general blog to something that’smore your style. Roll up your sleeves here andget to work.I’ve written this chapter to serve as a quickstart for a blog using WordPress.com. I couldhave chosen Blogger or a few other engines—Tumblr will get a chapter of its own—to serveas the example, but I’ve found that starting ablog on WordPress.com gives you a great foundation to build a blog, or a website (which Icover in Chapter 7, “Creating a Website”), witha clear and easy path to grow and expandover time.Unlike the first edition of this book, I don’tcover how to start podcasting or video bloggingin this chapter—both of those topics arecovered in Chapter 10, “Creating a MultimediaBlog.” Over the years of teaching people howto blog and create websites withWordPress.com, I’ve found that people want todo the following:. Post content. Post images. Embed videos from YouTube (and otherplaces). Personalize the theme or design of theirblogThat’s pretty much it. This chapter puts thefocus squarely on those goals. Technology will,for the most part, take a backseat to gettingthings done simply and easily.Getting Started withWordPress.comIn Chapter 2, “Installing and Setting Up YourFirst Blog,” I talked about setting up a blog onWordPress.com. I’m going to go into theprocess in more detail in this chapter to getmore into the nitty gritty of things.

93GETTING STARTED WITH WORDPRESS.COMBefore we get started on creating this new blogof yours, let’s first create a place for it to live.NOTERemember, WordPress.com and WordPress.org arerelated, but different. WordPress.com is acommercial venture run and owned byAutomattic. WordPress.org is the home of theopen-source version of WordPress that you candownload and install yourself on your ownservers. Automattic set up and supports theWordPress Foundation that runs and maintainsthings needed for WordPress.org to continue.Creating Your AccountCreating an account on WordPress.com is fast,easy, and free. WordPress.com provides atremendous number of features for free. In fact,it’s pretty easy to start and stick withWordPress.com for years and years.The first step is to go to WordPress.com andlook for the big Get Started Here button (seeFigure 5.1)FIGURE 5.1The home page forWordPress.com.CAUTIONINTERNET EXPLORER 6 NOT WELCOMEHEREMicrosoft’s Internet Explorer 6 was, for a very longtime, the most popular browser on the Internet. Itwas first introduced more than 10, yes 10, yearsago. Although IE 6 was great for its time, its timehas long since passed. However, many companiesand users hadn’t taken the time to update theircomputers to use newer versions of IE or otherbrowsers like Firefox, Chrome, or Safari.Continuing to support IE 6 was keeping manysites like WordPress.com from taking full advantage of newer technologies, and supporting adecade-old browser just didn’t make sense. So, ifyou try to use WordPress.com using IE 6, youwon’t be able to sign up until you come back witha “modern” browser.Sure, it might be harsh, but IE upgrades are free,and sometimes, you have to let go of the past tomove forward.

94CHAPTER 5CREATING A PERSONAL BLOG WITH WORDPRESS.COMWhen you click the button, you’ll see a screenthat looks something like Figure 5.2. Note that Ihad to scroll down and shrink things down soyou could see all the form fields in one image.In Figure 5.2, you see that I’ve picked “createyourownblog2ndedition” for the name. Themenu that is open shows that I can havecreateyourownblog2ndedition.wordpress.comfor free, but other options, like createyourownblog2ndedition.com, for a cost. You don’t haveto decide right this minute whether you want tobuy or use a domain for your blog. We’ll talkabout buying and using domains withWordPress.com later in the chapter.You’ll also note that my username for this blogis also createyourownblog2ndedition. OnWordPress.com, you can keep your usernameand blog name the same, or you can put adifferent name in the field. Something shorter,like cyob2nded, might have been a good choicehere. Why? Shorter URLs are easier for you,and everyone else, to type.NEW TERMA username is the word, phrase, or name you use tolog in to a computer or service. It’s different fromyour password. Some services use an email address asyour username; others, like WordPress.com, ask for adifferent name to use.I entered a password and confirmed it in thefield, as well as an email address. It is very important that you enter your email address correctlybecause before you can start your blog, you haveto click a link sent to that email address toconfirm your account. When you click Sign Up,you go to a screen, like Figure 5.3, to put in alittle information about yourself while waitingfor that confirmation email to arrive.FIGURE 5.2The sign-up screen forWordPress.com.

95GETTING STARTED WITH WORDPRESS.COMFIGURE 5.3The Edit Profile page onWordPress.com that youreach after starting thesign-up process.When the email arrives in your inbox, youneed to click the Activate Blog button. Whenyou do, you’ll see a screen like Figure 5.4.FIGURE 5.4Confirmation andsuccess! Also, yourDashboard for your blogon WordPress.com.At this point, if you’re ready, you can startblogging! But maybe you’d like to know whatsome of the import settings and configurationsteps are before you dive into blogging.

96CHAPTER 5CREATING A PERSONAL BLOG WITH WORDPRESS.COMKey WordPress.com Settingsand ConfigurationDespite WordPress.com adding more and morefeatures to the service, they’ve kept the numberof things you need to do to get started to abare minimum. Technically, you’ve completedall of them (signing up and confirming youraccount), but there are a few things I suggestyou do to get started on the right foot.First is updating a few of the basic settings. Onthe left side of the screen, click the Settingsmenu item (refer to Figure 5.4). This brings youto the General settings screen. You’ll see thatthe Site Title field is the name you createdwhen you signed up for WordPress.com. You’llalso notice that the Tagline is “Just anotherWordPress.com site.” In Figure 5.5 you can seeI’ve updated those fields to things that aremore descriptive and interesting. Try to keepthe site title reasonably short, but be moredescriptive in the Tagline field. The Tagline issupposed to tell visitors a little about what theycan expect to read when they come to yoursite. The last thing I change on this screen isthe Timezone. Just pick your city from themenu.Scroll to the bottom of the screen, click SaveChanges, and you’re done!NOTEDid you notice that on the settings screen, itdoesn’t say Blog Title, but rather Site Title? Thatchange was made to reflect the fact that blogshave become synonymous with websites and thatmany people are creating traditional “websites”using WordPress as the engine to power them—as you will read in Chapter 7.FIGURE 5.5The WordPress.comsettings screen.

97WHAT’S A POST AND WHAT’S A PAGE?GETTING STARTED WITH WORDPRESS.COMNow that the basic settings are updated—yes,believe it or not, that’s all you really need todo—let’s fix up a couple other things that willhelp you get off on the right foot.When you start any WordPress.com blog orinstall WordPress yourself, the software automatically creates a new post and adds acomment to it. This is great so that you can seethat everything worked, but leaving the “HelloWorld” post on your site isn’t needed. So, let’sdelete the post—which will delete the commentas well.First, click Posts from the menu on the left side.This brings up a list of all (right now, all one ofthem) posts on your blog. Pass your mousepointer right below the title of the post untilyou see the menu that has Trash as an option.Just click Trash and you’re done (see Figure5.6)!One last thing, and then you are set to get offand running. Just like creating a default Post,WordPress also creates a default About page.Again, on the left menu (you’re going to beclicking this menu a lot, by the way), clickPages and you’ll see a list of all the pagescurrently available (see Figure 5.7).Just like with the Posts listing, pass your mousebelow the title, but instead of clicking Trash,click Edit. You can also just click the titleAbout, and you’ll get to the same editingscreen (see Figure 5.8).WordPress-based blogs and sites have twobasic kinds of content: Posts and Pages (thecapitals are intentional). A Post is just whatyou’d think it is, a blog post. But it’s also more.A Post is a piece of content that is alsoconnected to other pieces of content (that is,other Posts) through time and the post topic(based on the categories and tags you pickedfor that Post). A Page, on the other hand, is amore static piece of content that is more timeless and isn’t connected to other pieces ofcontent through time or subject. You can easilylook at all the Posts in a category by clicking acategory link in that post. You can also look atall the Posts from October 2010, for example,by choosing to look at posts by time.You can’t look at Pages in the same way. Youcan’t easily have a list of Pages for yourreaders. Pages aren’t meant for that. Mostpeople use Pages for things like an About page,a contact page, or similar content that canstand by itself.As a blogger, you will probably create 10 or 20Posts for every Page you might feel the need tocreate. You won’t need many Pages in yourblog. Now, when we start talking about usingWordPress to build a website, the whole discussion about Posts and Pages gets more interesting. Let’s leave that discussion for Chapter 7.

98CHAPTER 5CREATING A PERSONAL BLOG WITH WORDPRESS.COMFIGURE 5.6Deleting the first defaultpost on a new blog.FIGURE 5.7The list of the Pages forthis site.FIGURE 5.8You’ll soon see that thePost editing screen looksalmost identical to thisPage editing screen.What you’re going to do here is update thecontent. Maybe you’ll change the title to something more than just “About” (about what?)and edit the content of the Page as well. Don’tworry if you’re not sure about what you’regoing to say; you can always come back andedit this Page as much as you’d like. Nothing isset in stone here. When you’re done, clickUpdate. If you want to see how it looks, clickView Page and a new tab or window will open

99GETTING STARTED WITH WORDPRESS.COMwith the results. Figure 5.9 shows what I did forthis demo blog.We’re ready to start with the next step ofgetting this blog ready for action. Are theremore things you can update? Certainly. If youFIGURE 5.9My updated About page,as meager as it might be.FIGURE 5.10The profile page on theblog, where you canupdate more information if you want.pass your mouse pointer over the Users menuitem on the left, a menu will pop out. If youchoose My Profile, you can update the picturethat is connected to your account and editother bits of information (see Figure 5.10).

100CHAPTER 5CREATING A PERSONAL BLOG WITH WORDPRESS.COMDo you need to update this? Eventually, but notright away. Right now we have more fun thingsto do. The next step is picking a cool andawesome theme for your blog.Themes and CustomizationsOne of the best things about WordPress (andmost other blogging engines) is that, on awhim, you can change the look and feel ofyour site with a click. Your content (Posts andPages) isn’t affected at all. You might have toput widgets and menus back in place, but theimportant stuff—the stuff you’ve written—willbe safe and sound.Choosing the Right Theme for Your BlogTo get started picking a theme for your blog,first click the Appearance menu on the left.You’ll come to a page showing about 30 of themore than 190 themes available to you onWordPress.com. If you see what you like on thefirst screen, that’s great, but most of us want tobrowse around a little first.NOTEWHAT ARE “PREMIUM THEMES”?When WordPress.com first launched, it offered aselection of some of the best themes available—the best free themes available. If you use selfhosted WordPress you can use one of the thousandsof other free themes and have the option to buy apremium theme to use on your blog. Automattic feltthat WordPress.com users were miss

iii Contents at a Glance Introduction 1 1 Beginning the Story: Blogging Then and Now 7 2 Installing and Setting Up Your First Blog 17 3 Creating Content for Your Blog 55 4 Building a Community Around Your Blog 77 5 Creating a Personal Blog with WordPress.com 91 6 Creating a Business Blog 123 7 Creating a We

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