Now let’s take a look at where to go from here.  First thing is first, let’s log into your admin panel.  Your admin panel will be found at http://(yourdomainnamehere.com)/wp-admin.  This should take you to a login page like this:

Blogging for beginners

Enter your username and password that you chose when setting up the blog and press continue.  This will bring you to the main interface we will be using when creating a blog.

The dashboard is where you can get everything done that you want to.  Down the left hand side is your basic navigation, allowing you to create posts, pages, change the theme, approve comments and much more.  Out of the box, your blog will typically have the generic wordpress theme with a sample post, page and comment.  To get familiar with how to get around in the dashboard, let’s look at how to take that content out and add your own.

Creating a blog

At the top of the navigation is a dropdown menu called posts.  If you click on edit, it will bring you to a screen that shows one post, typically named “Hello World”.  Clicking on that post title will bring you to a screen that allows you to edit it.

There are two options here, you can edit the post, or you can delete it and start from scratch.  For our purposes here, let’s go ahead and edit that post.

There are two main boxes on this view, the title box and the body box.  These boxes are simple text editors, so  you can click in the box, delete the content and replace it with your own content.  Let’s try replacing “Hello World” with “Welcome to my blog”.  Next, in the body box, replace the content with something about you.

Don’t worry, we can change this later, we just want to get a feel for how to create our posts.

Once you have added some words, let’s look to the right.  There are a few buttons to note, “save draft” “preview” and “publish”.  These buttons pretty much do what they say.  If you are creating a new post, but it is not complete and ready to be published, saving it as a draft will save it.  To edit it later, simply go to the posts, edit tab and select your post.

Preview will allow you to see what your post will look like live on your site without publishing it.  It is a handy button, especially when you start inserting videos, pictures and other items besides text.  Once you are happy with how your post looks, publish is going to publish it to your page.

Go ahead and publish your post, then in the top left corner, click on visit site and take a look.  Pretty easy, right?  That is the basics that you need to know to get in and add posts.  You can go to the posts menu and click add new to start adding posts right away.

There are many other options available on this screen that you may want to know about.  We will cover them in detail in an upcoming post, so be sure to check back in!

When creating a blog, there are a few directions to go.  There are free blog hosting services, sites that will supply you with a domain that they host, and carries their URL.  There are professionals who will create one for you for a fee.  Or you can do it yourself, own your own domain, choose the options you want, and know that the site is 100% yours.  This is what we are going to show you how to do.

First things first, you need a domain name.  Go here to get one, it is very easy to sign up, the domain will cost you about $10/year, and we are going to use their interface to show you how to do everything.

Sign up for an account, choose your domain name (I suggest a .com name, but other extentions will work just fine as well) and register it.  I suggest registering it for more than one year, then you don’t have to be reminded to renew, but it does not matter how long you register for at this point.

Once you have a domain name, you need a place to host your site.  Use these guys, they are very good, inexpensive, and again, we will be using their platform when teaching you about creating a blog.  It is very very easy with them.  Also, if you sign up for the mid-level hosting (less than $10/month), you will be able to have an unlimited number of blogs should you get hooked on creating a blog.  You can even host blogs for family members or friends, it’s a great deal!

Ok, now that you have a domain name and a hosting account, you are all set to begin.  Open two pages in your web browser so you can navigate between the two.  One should be your hostgator account, the other your godaddy account.

On the left hand side of your hostgator account at the bottom, you will see a box called “account information”.  In that box is your nameservers, they should look something like this:

ns1992.hostgator.com

Now go to your godaddy account.  On the left hand side you should find a link that says “domain manager”.  Click on the domain manager, then click on your site name.  Across the top are a number of icons, a little more than midway across is an icon labeled “nameservers”.  Click on this.

A dialog box should pop up.  Click the radio button to note that you are going to use custom name servers, then copy and paste the two name servers from your hostgator account.  Save the changes and go ahead and exit.

What this does is tells the internet where your page is located.  Hostgator is hosting your site, and the name servers will point to that host.  If you ever want to change hosts, you just come back here and update your nameservers and you will be set.

Now that your nameservers are set, it is time to set up your blog.  Go back to your hostgator account and find the icon called “Fantastico De Luxe”.  It is located in the box marked “Software/Services” and is located near the bottom of your control panel.  If you refer to the first screenshot above, you will see the red arrow pointing out this icon.

This Fantastico service is one of the reasons I really like this particular host.  It makes installations easy, plus makes upgrades very easy.  You don’t have to install anything, don’t have to use a file transfer program, nothing, it will be done for you.  This service is worth the cost of hosting all by itself, it’s great!  Ok, so enough of that, click on the Fantastico icon, and you will be brought to the installation screen.  Along the left-hand navigation panel, under the heading “blogs” is a link for wordpress.  Click on wordpress, then click on new installation.

Creating a blog with Wordpress

Make sure your domain is selected in the top drop-down menu.  Leave the next box blank (the install in directory box where the red arrow is pointing).  The next two boxes are your admin access data, and you will need to remember what you input.  I suggest writing it down.  My personal preference is to use “admin” for the name, then use a password.  This will help avoid any confusion later on if you give others access to your blog.

Next is your admin nickname.  This is what will show up on your posts.  You can use admin again, or you can use your personal name.  However you want your posts to reference you.  Don’t worry, you can change this later!

Finally, put your site name and a short description in and press install.  Your wordpress will be installed!

 
Congratulations on creating a blog!  That was easy, and probably took 30 minutes or less.  Your blog is now up and ready.  Our next post will show you how to get into the admin area and start posting.  Don’t worry, it will be just as simple as creating a blog!