A “theme” is the framework and graphical layout that defines and frames your blog.  They are developed using CSS (cascading style sheets) which creates a cohesive look and feel to all pages of your site.  The theme is separate from your blog content. This makes it easy to try different themes until you find the one that works for you. It’s an easy process to change your theme and you can “try on ” as many as you like!

There are thousands of free themes available for your WordPress blog website.  You can find themes in just about any color combination with various layout selections.  WordPress 3+ is installed with the basic theme called “Twenty Ten” . It is a nice clean theme that can be customized with your own header graphic and more.  However, there is no need to limit yourself to the default WordPress theme.

Choosing a theme for your WordPress blog

Start by clicking on the “appearance” tab in the menu on the left in the dashboard area, then click on “themes.”  This will open the theme management area.  You’ll see your current theme displayed at the top.  Look for “install themes” a tab at the top of the window.  Click that and you’ll be taken to an area to search for themes.  You’ll see a filter area where you can choose colors or layout style. You can also choose from specific features if you like.  I prefer to just enter a couple of colors and click the “find theme” button at the bottom.  All of the themes with the attributes you entered will be displayed.

Want to Browse All Themes?

If you don’t really know what you want, just  leave all filter boxes  blank and click the search button next to search box at the top without entering any text.  You’ll have over 50 pages of themes to browse.

Some themes may be more complex than others.  We suggest you choose a simple theme to start with and then, later on as you feel more confident, you can change it to something else.  You can actually change your themes anytime you want, but keep in mind that complexity can be confusing at first.  Start with getting your word out, then move on if you like, to more complex themes.

Installing Your Theme

Sound complex?  Nope!  There are two steps:

• Click the INSTALL button on the theme you’ve chosen
• Click the ACTIVATE THEME button in the appearance window
• View it by going to your site!

Now you are ready to work with the theme to change your background images if you like.  Now is a good time to add widgets too! More about widgets in the next post! But go ahead and click on widgets under appearance and experiment with moving them around in your side bars.

Purchasing Themes

Not all WordPress themes are free.  Some companies do design themes with a fee.  The “Thesis” theme is an example.  You can also have themes custom made for you, but with so many options available with the free themes, we suggest you start there.  All themes can be endlessly customized with widgets, and custom code.  You can even make your own theme free on several sites like Cool Template.

Unless you have a major enterprise application there are plenty of free themes to get you going. Hopefully you’ve chosen one and are getting to know it.  We are here to help with issues with your themes so just email us if you have questions or need any custom work done.

Write ON!

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The Team at Line Writer

Your First post looks good and you are ready for the world to see it, but how will the world find that first post?  You do WANT the world to find you, right?  Your final tasks before you publish will both organize your posts, and provide valuable SEO (Search Engine Optimization)  structure to your website.

Choose Your Category

Categories are important, they help people and search engines find the topics of your blog posts.  I’m sure you’ve noticed the category box to your right as you’ve been writing your post.  The default category is “uncategorized.”  If you do not add categories and choose the categories for your post, that’s where it goes. You DON’T want that.   For a new main category, click Add New Category link and  just type the name in the box, then click the add new category  button. It will now appear in your category list. Once you start adding categories you can have both parent and child categories.   You can have your posts appear in more than one category if you like, just click the checkboxes for each category you want your post to be associated with.  Note. If you are wanting to set up your category structure for your entire blog, you can add your categories and sub categories through the category MENU on the left while NOT editing a post.

Excerpts

The next item down from the editing pane is and Excerpt box.   Excerpts allow you to create a brief summary of your article that can be used in your theme.  They are not required, but you may want to see how they work. The excerpt box is located directly below the post editing page.  Just type in your excerpt and it will be updated when you save your draft and publish

SEO

ONE MORE TASK and it has to do with something we all want SEO.  SEO is “Search Engine Optimization”  Traffic is key in web land!  If you want people to find you you need Search Engine Optimization.  This is why we install an important plug in on all of the blogs we create titled ” All In One SEO”  If you scroll down below the excerpts, the trackback section and custom fields,  you’ll see the boxes for the “All In One SEO Pack.”  This little plugin is great!  Enter a headline.  This will now be the page title that appears at the very top of the browser window.  Search engines read this.  It does not HAVE to be the same headline that you used in your article.

Next summarize you article to entice search engine  users  to visit your page!  This is the summary of the site you see anytime you use a search engine for a keyword. Its what YOU use.. to decide whether or not the information you are looking for is on that site.

Finally add keywords.  As many as you can think of that pertain to your article.  If you’ve quoted someone, enter their name, if you’ve mentioned a city or place? enter that name, an event? put it in there, as well as any other keywords that may help people find you.

All of these settings:   categories,  excerpts, SEO pack are saved anytime you save your draft or update your post.  So now you are ready to publish that post.  Congratulations!

Hit that publish button!

If you already did, like way before you did any of the things in this article?  all you have to do, is go back and edit the page with the information above.  You can do this anytime, you need to.

Pages do not appear in your chronological display of posts.  The page title you create will be added to a tab at the top .  The first page you will want to create is your “About” page.  Here you can describe what your blog is about, a little about yourself if desired.  You can change the name to something else.  The headline for a page must be short.  It will appear either in the sidebar or at the top depending on your theme.  You can create an entire website by using pages.  You can also have a custom home page, rather than the display of posts in your blog.  your blog posts can appear on another page altogether.  The option to use a static page as your home page is found in the dashboard under “settings” then “reading.”   Choose which page you want as your static home page from the drop down box, save your change, and you are done!

Its all about flexibility!  That’s what Word Press is all about.  You can have it your way.

There are a couple of ways to add images and media to your blog.  If you know you are going to be using several images, you can go straight to the “Media” link on your dashboard and upload them.  They will then appear in your “library” to choose from.  To upload images one at a time to an actual blog post, just click on the picture frame next to the upload/insert text on top of your writing pane buttons.   If you are adding an image from your computer, just navigate to the file, click on the image and the image uploader will bring it to your word press files.  It will be ready to insert after you choose from a few options.

It is advisable to use a photo editor to reduce the size of your larger images to no more that 40K .  If you have a mega pixel camera, you can start by resizing them in a program like Microsoft Office Picture Manager. You do not want to upload an image that is 3600×2800 pixels!  You need to  reduce them in physical size so they can be uploaded and displayed faster. I find it easiest to reduce the size by a percentage rather than dimensions.  I start with around 15 percent of the original size, aiming for a new size of around 300 x 600.  Picture Manager will display the new size when you enter the percentage. You can make them even smaller if your original percentage is still too large.    If your images are slightly larger than that, its okay because WordPress will crunch them and allow you to choose a suitable size for insertion into your post.

It’s very handy to create a file folder JUST for your blog photos.  You can save the changes to your image into that file, and not save the changes to your original photo, so you still have the original image sized in megapixels, and a smaller one to use in your blog posts.

Once your image is uploaded you will see a box like the one to the left.  You can change the title and if the image is your own image, name it so that it identifies you or your blog.   You can choose a caption to appear beneath the image if you like, but if you move your image in the blog, the caption will stay where the original image was placed… Because of that, I rarely use captions.  Describe your pictures if you like, it may help search engines to find you!

The link url default is to link the image to your POST.  If you want the image linked elsewhere,  just replace the URL to the link you choose.

Positioning and size is next.  Do you want to use the full 600X 800 size you uploaded?  Probably not!  There will be other options.  Do you want the image to appear to the left, with your text wrapping the image, as shown in this example? Or in the middle or to the right?  Just choose your option.  It can always be changed if you don’t like the effect.  Your final step is to INSERT the image.  Click the button and you are in!   You will want to save your draft and preview your blog to see how it looks in the blog post.  Sometimes it takes a few delete and re-adding to get it just where you want it.   If you end up removing it and want to re-add it, when you click on upload image,  use the library button.  Your image will now be in your “gallery”.  Click “show”  and you will be able to reinsert it again.

Adding an image from the internet is also easy.  If you find an internet picture you want to link to and have it appear in your blog just navigate to the url of that picture, copy the url from the address bar and paste it into the box that will appear.

Adding a YouTube video can be done through the add video button or simply by using the imbed code from the YouTube video and pasting it into your post via the HTML button to the right of the viewing pane. I know I told you you didn’t need to know HTML, and you really don’t,  But the HTML window is perfect for adding the HTML that someone else created!  The YouTube code is a simple copy and paste job.  Give it a try, you’ll love the effect! You Tube videos are made to be shared, you can add just about anything you find that interests you or your audience.

Here is an example with a You Tube video about .. adding images to your Word Press Blog.

Its easy and fun to work with media files and they add a lot to your post!

Ready for Your First post?

At first glance the Admin area may be just a tad intimidating. Don’t be scared, you have something to say!  The easiest thing to do is just dive in and start writing.

The Admin area for Word press is really easy to use. When you first access it either from the front page of your blog, under the “Meta” title, or just by entering myblog.com/wp-admin in your browser, you’ll be prompted to enter your user name and password. After logging in, you will arrive at “The Dashboard.” From the dashboard you will be able to access everything you need from the menu on the left.

If your theme is already set, you are probably anxious to “say something.”   Click on “posts” and then Add New, The add new post window will open on the right.  The headline box will contain the title of your post.  Add your first headline, then move your cursor to the composing window and begin to explore your option buttons.

Hovering over the each of the buttons above the writing pane will give you a description of the function of these buttons.    Most will be familiar.  You have the text behavior buttons, bold Italics and strike through.  You have  un-numbered and numbered list buttons   The quotation marks,  are great when quoting other articles. It puts an entire block of text into a box with large quotation marks.  Depending on the theme, the effect is pretty cool when viewed in your blog.

The link button is available anytime you highlight text. HINT: Copy your link BEFORE clicking the link button.. then  just paste it in the URL box that appears. You have the choice to have the link open in a new window or the same window as your blog.

The two panes together allow you to insert a “READ MORE” function to break the amount of your article seen on the front page of your blog.   Remember, unless you’ve elected to have a static page as your home page, each blog post is published chronologically, so being able to provide a snippet and then a “read more” link allows more of your posts to be visible on the home page.

Speaking of which, anytime you want to see how your post is going to look inside your theme and on the web,  just click the save draft button, and then preview.  A new window will open that is the exact look of your post on the web.   Don’t be surprised  or feel alone when you get a  little thrill of seeing your words set up in such a professional looking format!  Its a great way to proofread your article as well.  If you find typos, just go back to the edit post tab on your browser and fix them.

As your article gets longer, you can view it full screen by pressing the full screen button next to the spell check button.  You get back to the smaller pane by clicking it again.

If you want to add various headline items in your post, click on the paragraph drop box to see your options there.  Headlines inside your article help break it up into sections.  You also have the ability to change your text color by clicking on the “A” drop down box. Helpful for headlines or blocks of type.  Just highlight the area you want to color then click the A box and choose from the colors appearing there.  The font of your blog is a part of your theme.  It cannot be edited from the Edit Post area.

A word about the “Visual” and HTML button.  Yes there are some times when you want to be able to enter html. Perhaps you are doing some affiliate advertising and you need to be able to enter the HTML code for your advertiser.  If so, just click the HTML button on the right, navigate to the place you want to insert your code and just paste it in.. If your link contains an image, your image will appear and the link will automatically have your own publisher code in it.  Anyone who clicks on your link and buys, you’ll get a commission. I will be writing more about “affiliate advertising” in another post, but it is a great way to make some money from your blogging efforts.  Some people build blogs totally around affiliate advertising to make money.  If this is your goal, you’ll know more shortly!

Next post will be about adding images, video, and music to your posts.

When is a blog NOT a website? Never!   Originally a blog was simply a time-line of posts.  It still CAN be that but it can also be so much more!  For an individual or small business (or large business for that matter) who has something to say, blogging software allows folks who want an internet presence to do it with no knowledge of HTML or programming language. If you can use word processing software like Microsoft Word, or Works, you are ready to start telling the world anything you have to say.  All of this with none of the dreaded File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

Your Blog, Up and Running in a Couple of Hours!

How?  Simple!  The most popular blogging platform in the world is Word Press.  Word Press  is a Content Managements System (CMS)  This means that all information, your articles, pages and posts are simply entered into an editing  window in the admin area.  I’m typing into this window as I write this post.  At any time as you write, you can save the “draft” and preview it, to see what it will look like within your chosen Blog template. Adding  photos, embedding Youtube videos or other media files, are all within the “edit post” screen. All common word processing features like headings, bullet points, quotations,   colors,  links, and more are available within this window.

Best of all though, you can tell the world YOUR thoughts, report on current news, instruct, collect a mailing list and subscribers, entertain, intrigue, discuss, Sell stuff, promote, inform and look good doing it!

ARE YOU READY?  I’d like to help you get started!

Your own Dot com name.

• You can check right here if yourname.com is available! Don’t overlook the dot net, dot info, dot biz names either. If your pick isn’t available, try hyphens and underscores. They work too!

Hosting  on our own state of the art servers

• We set up your account on our own servers.  You will have as much control as you desire, including FTP access.

Your own email address

• You can set them up or we will do your first for you as we set up your account.

Popular Plugins Installed Free

• Plugins extend the functionality of your blog. There are hundreds, but a few are must have.  We install these for you when we set up your blog.

All of this for much less than the cost of a professionally designed website!

Most web site designers charge around 600 dollars for a basic 5 page website. This is framework only.  You will still have to provide images, logo’s, text and content, know a little HTML and upload everything via FTP.  With your blog, you will be able to do that yourself, and not pay someone to upload content via FTP. Of course we can provide many creative services for you, but  you will be amazed at how easy it is to create a pro website with your Blog.   The site you are on right now was created today in minutes!

Content is king. If you like, we can interview you and get you started with some basic text so you can get a feel for your site and how it works.  We offer 2 hours of phone support to be sure you are comfortable with your setup and how to start telling the world!

The design of your blog site will be up to you! There are literally thousands of pre-made free customizable templates made for WordPress.  There are also advanced  themes that you can purchase.  You choose one, we install it and you’re off.   You’re not  bound by that design either, because you can literally change templates like you change clothes.  The body of your work, your posts, stay intact with only the “frame” changing.

Want to Make Some Extra Cash?

News Flash!!!!  You can  make money with your blog.  You may have this in mind already but if not, think about it.  It can more than pay for itself!  Some people make a LOT of money on their blog websites.  You can capitalize on a profitable niche market, you can do affiliate advertising if you like,  and make money from others who want to advertise on your site. If you are writing about subjects with keywords that interest advertisers, Google will pay you to put ads on your site. Those ideas are just a few examples of how you can  blog for cash!

Lets get started!  I can promise you you’ll find the process easy and fun, with minimum learning curve.

The cost to set up and host your Word Press Blog Site (for a limited time) is only $200! Pay us nothing until its up! Just give us the go and we go! Payment by Paypal is fine when the job is complete!   After the first year, we will continue to provide hosting for only $50 a year, less than $5.00 per month!

We are also available for updates, custom CSS programming, and writing.

Email Now! You’ll be blogging tomorrow!

Or, give us a call at 813 992 0105

We cant wait to read what you will tell the world!