Free Tutorial For WordPress Beginners


Ok, so you’ve just finished installing WordPress with a nice looking template from one of the many free WordPress theme sites out there (or maybe you’ve had someone do it for you because you’re a writer and not a programmer!), and you’ve even managed to install a few of the best WordPress plugins. Now you’re probably wondering, “What’s next?!” You need to make your first post of course!

Oh wait, this is Internet Marketing for Dummies, isn’t it? Which means you probably don’t even know how to log in, let alone make a post! That’s ok because using WordPress is so easy that even a real idiot could figure it out. I’ll show you step by step how to make a post, how to create a page on your WordPress blog, and also how to add images and video to WordPress. Soon you will be well on your way to becoming a Professional Blogger and earning a healthy income from your blog!

How To Make Your First Post Using WordPress

Step 1. Go to www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin This is your main login screen so it’s probably a good idea to bookmark this URL. Enter your username and password, and you’re in. So far, so good.

Step 2. Click on either Write a New Post or just Write depending on which version of WordPress you’re using. You will see a screen that may look somewhat intimidating at first, but don’t worry! The only part you need to concern yourself with right now is this:

Free Tutorial For WordPress Beginners /><br/><br/>It's imperative that you spend some time coming up with a good title because your title is probably the most important part of your post. The title needs to look good to both Google (use your main keywords here) and to the people who are reading your blog. Don't forget the people!!!<br/><br/>Next comes your post. If you're not comfortable with the WordPress visual editor then you can always write your post in some other program and then copy and paste to WordPress. When writing your posts, it's a good idea to include keywords, but you don't want to over do it. It doesn't need to be obvious that you're using keywords. One mistake people often make is to use bold, for all of their keywords. This really isn't necessary. Go read

It’s imperative that you spend time writing a good title. Titles are probably the most important place on the page for including your keywords. Just don’t make the mistake of writing your title exclusively for Google. Some bloggers tend to forget that there are actual human beings behind the computer screen reading everything they write!

Step 3. Ok, now it’s time to tag and categorize your post. Any keywords that were used in your post should be added as tags. Don’t add extra tags, and don’t use the same tag twice or Google might see this as keyword spam and penalize you for it.

Think of it like this: Tags are for Google and categories are for people. Use your keywords as tags, and use your categories to make sure visitors can easily find and access your content.

Step 4. Finally click on Publish and… voila! Your post should now be on the front page of your blog. Pretty simple, huh? If it’s not and you somehow managed to screw this up, then you really are a dummy and there’s just no hope for you. Ok just kidding! But seriously, if that’s the case then maybe you should consider hiring some professional help.

How To Create A Page On Your WordPress Blog

You can create a page the same way you created a post. Go to the Write tab and then click on Page. Once you’ve published your page, you can always go back and edit it later. To do this, click on Manage. You can also edit posts, tags, categories and links from this tab. The first page you need to add to your blog should be a well-written About page. Click here for some tips from Darren Rowse on how to write your “About Me” page.

Speaking of Darren, his site ProBlogger is a must read for any blogger, whether you do this for fun or for business. ProBlogger is literally a gold mine of information that would cost you hundreds of dollars to read elsewhere. He gives you all of the best blogging tips and tricks and if you follow his advice, you’re sure to become a successful Professional Blogger in no time!

How To Add Images To Your Posts And Pages

Blogs without images are boring, so make sure you use an image or two in each of your posts. Here’s another article from Darren titled “Using Images to Take Your Posts to a New Level” Go read it!

How To Add Video To WordPress

So you want to make a video blog, huh? Great idea! Video is an awesome way to make your blog stand out from the crowd. Jack Humphrey, from the Friday Traffic Report, has made an informative video which will explain to you how to add video to your own WordPress blog using the “advanced wizzy wig editor” as he calls it. Here it is:

I should point out that this video is a little outdated because now all you have to do is click on HTML on your “advanced wizzy wig editor” (and you thought Clicky was a funny name? lol) instead of going through the trouble of changing your editor settings. Just don’t click back over to visual or it probably will screw up your video.

Well I guess that’s it for my 100% free tutorial for WordPress beginners. I hope you found it useful and if I’ve left anything out that you would like to know, feel free to leave me a comment or contact me. Also, be sure to bookmark or subscribe to my blog as I’ll be posting many more WordPress tutorials in the future.

P.S. Please excuse my own lack of “blog feng shui”. I’ve been so busy helping others lately that I haven’t had the time to make my own blog look pretty. But watch out, because on May 17 I will unleash Wake Up Sleepy Head Version 3.0 and it will be completely awesome!!!

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May 13, 2008 | Filed Under Blogging, WordPress 

Comments

One Response to “Free Tutorial For WordPress Beginners”

  1. Kathy Proctor (1 comments.) on May 14th, 2008 1:01 pm

    Blogging for dummies??? Count me in:)

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