Wordpress Guide

A Talk About Local guide written by Nicky Getgood using extracts from :
! !"#$%&''()*+%&,-"..,/+%01"2,%('%3'/24/,++%5(%www.podnosh.com/social-media-help/
! Floss Manuals: Wordpress at http://en.flossmanuals.net/wordpress

Creating a Wordpress account

The most widely used blogging platform that is available as a hosted version
(i.e. where a you can have a free blog) is Wordpress. This is because it is
very easy to use but also quite flexible, so you can develop it and add further
features as your confidence grows.

A blog can be set up in a matter of minutes. But before you set up your
Wordpress blog you first need to sign up fo/%5%3'/24/,++%5##'1.(6%%7,/,*+%
how:

! Go to http://wordpress.com

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page. It will take you to a form to complete.

! Create a Username @ this is not the name of your blog, but will be the
username you will sign into all the wordpress.com blogs you create or
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be connected with. Your username cannot be changed.

! Create a password @ this should be something that is hard for others to

guess. A combination of numbers, letters and symbols will make it
 stronger. A coloured bar underneath the password box will tell you
how strong or weak your password is.

! Type in your email address.

! Tick the Legal Flotsam (you are not signing your soul away here!).

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at the bottom of the form.

! Note, if your username is taken, or your password isn't strong enough,

you will need to change those before continuing.
Creating a Wordpress blog
Now you have created your Wordpress account, you will now go on to create
your first Wordpress blog.

! On the next page you choose your domain name. This is your unique
web address (e.g. talkaboutlocal.wordpress.com). Choose this
carefully as it cannot be changed!

! You can also give your blog its title. You can change the title in the
future if you need to. You should now also set the language to English
using the drop down menu.

! Press the "Signup" button.

! The Privacy option lets you decide whether or not you want your blog
to appear on search engines for others to view. Uncheck this box if
you wish to keep your blog private.

! Click sign-up and an activation email will be sent to you.

! Whilst you are witing for your email, update your profile by filling in your
details (first name, last name, etc.) further down the page.

! Go to your email inbox and click on the confirmation link in the

Wordpress activation email.

! It will tell you your account is now active and you have the option to
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to your Wordpress blog dashboard.

Congratulations! You have created your first Wordpress blog.

Change the appearance of your blog
You should now be in the Wordpress blog dashboard. This is an at-a-glance
overview of your blog, showing viewing statistics, latest blog posts, recent
comments, etc.

All new Wordpress blogs are given the same, verE%>5+"#%:L1>/"#$*%(),D,%M"6,6%

appearance). You will probably want to customise the blog appearance so
suits your needs and has the right look and feel. You may even want to insert
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! You will use the menu on the left-hand side of the page add posts and
make changes to your blog. To change the look of your blog go to the
:N44,5/5.#,*%'4("'.%".%(),%9,?(-hand menu.

! As you can see, there are many available different themes for your
blog. We wil9%='/$%="()%(),%(),D,%:O"-"95.#,*%?'/%.'=C%()"+%#5.%>,%
changed to something else later if you like.

! Click on Vigilance. On the pop-14%+#/,,.%()5(%544,5/+%#9"#$%:N#("H5(,%

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! !'=%#9"#$%'.%:#1+('D%),52,/*C%5%+1>-h,52,/%1.2,/%:N44,5/5.#,*%".%(),%
left hand menu.

! Here you can add an image to have as your header instead of text. If
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(),%"D5-,%E'1*2%9"$,%('%)5H,%5+%E'1/%),52,/%".%E'1/%#'D41(,/6%%R.#,%
you have selected it, click Upload.
 ! If you did not upload an image that matches the dimensions of your
(),D,*+%),52,/C%E'1%="99%.,ed to crop it. Select the section of the image
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the moment, it can be altered later). Once the area you want is
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blog title in the top left-hand corner to see how your site looks. Click the
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Adding a new post to your blog
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with adding some content to the site by writing your first blog post.

You can now write a post on whatever subject you want, be it what you like
most or least about your area or simply what you can see out of your window.
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left-hand menu and choose the sub-),52,/%:522%.,=*6

! Enter a Title for the post and some text, which is the main body of the
blog post. Think of this part in the same way as sending an email. It
really is as easy at that. The title is important, as it will act as a link to
your post in some cases, so don't forget to fill that out.

! Once you have finished writing your post, you can spell-check it by
clicking the ABC box in the toolbar. You can also make some text
bold, italic, bullet-pointed or numbered using the toolbar options.
! Once you feel your post is ready, click on the publish button in the box
on the right-hand side. This will create an internet page which features
your post.

! If you want to see what your post looks like then you should click on
the link View Post. On clicking this link you will be taken to the internet
page which features your blog post.
Moderating comments
Once your blog is in the public domain, readers may want to leave comments
on your blog posts. This is great @ it means people are reading and
responding to your content.

Understandably, you may have some concerns about the comments on a

website getting out of control. It is very easy to manage comments so that
nothing will appear until you approve it through. As you become more
confident with the site and people can see acceptable standards of behaviour,
then you can ease the controls if you wish. The best websites have wide
ranging comments that flow freely without much control by the author.
Managing comments on a website is known as 'moderation''.

! To set-14%#'DD,.(%D'2,/5("'.%-'%('%:;,((".-+*C%(),%>'(('D%'ption in
the left-hand menu, and choose the sub-),52,/%:T"+#1++"'.*6

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i. Attempt to notify any blogs linked to from the article (slows down
posting.)
ii. Allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks.)
iii. Allow people to post comments on new articles.

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i. Comment author must fill out name and e-mail

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i. Anyone posts a comment
ii. A comment is held for moderation

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i.e.
i. An administrator must always approve the comment

This means that no comment will appear on the site before you have
approved it. You can mark all comments you do not wish to appear on the
site as spam or for deletion as you see fit.
Adding an Image
So now your blog post is published and you are able to moderate comments
on it. Now we can work on making your first post look a little more dynamic.

An easy way of making a post look more appealing is by adding an image to

illustrate the text. A picture is worth a thousand words and people are more
likely to read a blog post that starts with a picture of what the article is about.
Adding a picture is simple and similar to attaching a picture to an email or
uploading one to a photo sharing or printing website

P'%-'%>5#$%('%E'1/%41>9"+),2%4'+(C%#9"#$%'.%:S'+(+*%".%(),%9,?(-hand menu.
Your most recent post will appear at the top of a l"+(6%%89"#$%'.%(),%4'+(*+%("(9,%
and this will take you back into the editing screen.

! Place the cursor where you would like your image to appear.

! Click on the icon next to Upload/insert just above the toolbar.

! A dialogue box will appear. This gives you the choice to add your
image in a few ways.
! To upload an image from your computer then you should click on
Select File and find the image on your computer.

! You'll see an upload bar while you file is uploading.

! When your file has uploaded you'll get some options which control how
it is inserted into the page.
 ! I,(*+%+5E%E'1%=5.(%('%59"-.%(),%"D5-,%('%(),%9,?( so that the text wraps
around it, and you want to put in a caption and description to help the
viewers know what it is about.

! When you have written in the caption and checked the left Alignment
option, click the Insert Into Post button at the bottom.

You should now see you image in your post about the right place you wanted
it, or at least where you had the cursor flashing when you started the process.
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Hyperlinking text
Blogs like Wordpress make publishing incredibly easy, but they are really
powerful when they talk to each other. A simple, passive form of this is a
blogroll, which is a list of blogs that is often put in the sidebar which shows the
types of blogs that you read and might be relevant.

But you can also link to other websites, pages and blog posts in the body of
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effective as they will be notified by something called a ping or trackback. This
is done automatically and is a bit like leaving a comment without having to
write something on their blog. The more you link, the more people you involve
in the conversation, the more people you show you are listening to.

It is very easy to link some of your text to a relevant site. Say you want to link
a word to the Talk About Local site http://talkaboutlocal.org.

! Return to the edit page of your blog post.

! Highlight the word or chunk of text you would like to link.

! In the toolbar click on the Insert Link icon, which looks like a chain link.

! Type in the address of the Link URL in the popup box that appears,
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any of the other fields).

! Your link text should now be an underlined blue.

! If you would like to unlink the text, highlight it and click on the Unlink
icon next to the Insert Link icon. This will unlink the text for you.
Well done! You have learnt how to a Wordpress account, created a new blog,
customised its appearance for your needs, written a blog post, set suitable
discussion settings in order to moderate comments and added an image and
links to your blog post.

Of course, there are a few more things to learn if you want to keep going with
your blog and develop it into something more, but none of it is much more
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