So you know that you should be blogging. You’ve got a great new website, you’ve got blogging capabilities built in and you’ve got some great knowledge. But how do you actually go about writing your first blog post? Let’s run through the nuts and bolts of how to write a simple blog post.

How to log in to your WordPress based website.

First things first – you’ll need to log in to your website and access the blogging area. For this tutorial we’re going to assume you are using the most popular platform – WordPress. If you have a Webwalrus site you are using WordPress, even if you’re not using one of our sites chances are that your website is running on the WordPress platform, as it is by far the most widely used platform. If you set up your WordPress site yourself, or it is hosted on WordPress.com then you likely know your login details already, if not ask whoever set the site up for you for your own username and password. Make a nice secure note of these details – you are going to use them in a lot in your new blogging career. Once you’ve got these noted in a safe place it’s time to login. Visit this address, remembering to replace “your_domain.co.uk” with the name of your website.

www.your_domain.co.uk/login

You’ll be presented with a screen that looks something similar to this:

You know the routine – add your username to the top box, your password to the bottom box and click log-in. Easy. If it won’t let you in double check you’ve typed everything in correctly and try again. If all else fails click that link down the bottom to reset your password via the email address you provided when the account was setup. Still can’t get in? Contact your web developer. Let’s move on.

Using The WordPress Dashboard

All being well you’ll now be presented with a screen that looks something like this:

Don’t worry if your screen has a few different options on it, one of the best things about WordPress is that you can add all sorts of options and features depending on your own needs and preferences. I’ve zoomed in a bit on the top left corner of the dashboard so you can see the important bits, but you should find some useful information presented on your dashboard relating to your website. We’ll show you how to manage your dashboard in a later blog post but for now let’s move on to your posts page so we can add your first post. Click the ‘Posts’ option that I’ve highlighted with the red in the image above, and we’ll add your first post.

The Posts Screen And Adding Your First Blog Post

Here we are at the posts screen:

The posts screen shows you a list of all your blog posts, and gives you a chance to edit or work with them. You can see this blog has no entries at the moment, but you might find yours has the standard starter post ‘Hello World’ listed here. I’ve trashed that one already as you can see by the number one that is sitting next to the ‘Trash’ label. Adding your first post is easy – just click ‘Add New’  (circled in red). Welcome to your first blog post!

The Add New Post Screen

Now we’re at the fun part- actually writing your first blog. We won’t go into too any detail about what to actually use for content – for now let’s just look at the basic routine:

So first off click your cursor in the top area I’ve marked number 1 and add the title of your first post. This is the first thing your readers are going to see so make it count! Next up write your first blog post. Try having a cup of coffee first if you get stuck – it generally works for me. Once you’ve got it all worked out and your ready to present your work to your audience hit that enticing blue ‘Publish’ button. Congratulations – you’re now a blogger!

Next Steps In Blogging

Of course that’s the simple part of it and there are many other things to think about once you’ve got a grip on this first stage. Categories, Tags, Featured Images, post structure, SEO – the list is endless, but with our help you’ll soon be a blogging expert. Got any questions? Feel free to use the comments for Q&A. If you’re looking to set up your own blog and need a website to run it on – get in touch or click the button below to see our prices.

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