How to Start a Blog

The Welcome Page (Dashboard)

After you log in to the Administration area (http://yourdomain.com/wp-admin) You will be taken to this page:

Here, you will be able to perform various actions like Writing a New Post, edit an existing post or keep working on an unpublished draft. Other features include adding links to other websites and blogs (often called the blogroll) and add new static pages that you want your visitors to see every time they visit your blog. Every time you visit the dashboard, you will see a quick summary of your blog’s activity (like new comments and comments awaiting approval). From the dashboard you will be able to access all the main features of the Wordpress platform (theme management, plugins, general settings, time-zone settings, blog title and description, etc.

What in the world is a Blog?

The word “blog” is a contraction of Web-Log. In Basic terms, it is a normal website, but presented in the form of a diary, in which the author or publisher can write every day or as frequent as he likes and visitors will see the latest entry first. A blog is written like a diary because it makes reading a snap and finding content is easier than traditional website layouts. So now that you know that a blog is a website, let’s keep going.

How do I Start a Blog?

First of all, you need to know that there are many blog platforms available online to start a blog. A blogging platform is a software that helps the author or writer of the blog, manage the content easily and be able to interact with the visitors by allowing comments on each entry. The most popular platforms are Wordpress and Blogger. These two blogging platforms offer free blogs for the general public and you can start a blog in as little as 3 minutes; But there is a catch! yes, some free blogging platforms do not allow bloggers to use their blogs for commercial purposes, and that includes not being able to monetize your blog with advertisements or affiliate links (check their terms of use for the latest details) plus, your blog address will look something like http://yourblog.blogspot.com which is not as appealing as having your own domain name like http://Yourblog.com which is more attractive and you own the contents of your blog. Read the rest of this entry »