Lesson 2: Creating a Blog

If you open these PDF lesson files in Adobe Acrobat, most

browsers, or in Word, you’ll be able to copy content and paste

it into WordPress. Makes things easier than having to type it

in. (I don’t recommend Word, though, because some

formatting will be a bit off due to the way Word imports a

PDF file.)

If you aren’t able to copy text from this PDF file, please post a

message in the Discussion Area and let me know what app

you’re using.

Chapter 1: Introduction Welcome back! I hope the first lesson gave you a feel for the ways WordPress can help you

create attractive and effective Web pages.

At the start of this lesson, we're going to step back from WordPress for a moment to discuss

organizing and planning a website. It's important to define goals and lay the groundwork before

you add pages and posts. So we'll review our expectations and brainstorm how to best meet

those goals.

Then, I'll introduce the site style known as a blog. By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to use

WordPress to publish and categorize blog posts and control how your visitors respond to them.

In Lesson 1, I described a blog as a type of website featuring time-sensitive entries that appear

in chronological order, usually with the most recent on top. Sort of like a diary. By contrast, a

traditional website has much static information—content that doesn't change much.

As recently as 20 years ago, blogs didn't exist. Now there are more than 100 million of them.

Thanks to WordPress and other personal publishing platforms, blogging caught fire in the early

2000s as a way for nontechnical people to share their observations and opinions with Internet

visitors.

Today, all kinds of sites include a blog component because developers have discovered that it's

a useful addition to a static website. Here's why.

• A blog's an ideal format for organizing and presenting timely information. For instance, your blog might include information on upcoming community events or commentary on recent news stories.

• A blog provides an interactive feature—a way for website visitors to provide

feedback.

• Because most bloggers update content regularly, a blog can rank higher in search

engines. That means it generates more page hits and may help build a larger audience. Even if the blog is only a component of a larger traditional site.

In fact, almost any kind of website can benefit from a blog component. Businesses use blogs to

introduce new products, announce new programs and personnel, and point out their strengths

(by publishing vignettes about satisfied customers, for example). Community and organizational

websites have blogs aimed at recruiting volunteers, soliciting contributions, and reporting on

new programs. Even if your goal is to build a traditional website, including a blog can add an

important dimension to your online presence.

So let's get started on a blog! First we'll map out the project. Then we'll compose and format

posts. We'll also set up your WordPress website to encourage a dialog with your visitors.

Chapter 2: Setting Goals and Planning We'll get back to our project website in the next chapter. First, let's do some important

planning.

Now that you have the framework of a WordPress website, let's discuss how you're going to

structure your course project, Pets to Go. I find that before I start any new project, answering

these questions keeps me on track:

1. What's my goal? What do I want this site to accomplish?

In this case, let's assume my organization decided to create a website to increase

the adoption rate of dogs and cats. We would measure its success by comparing the

number of pet adoptions before and after it goes online.

When creating your website, your objectives might be more involved. For

example, let's suppose you're opening an art gallery. You might want to

publicize the new business and recruit future exhibitors. If you make recruiting

a part of your goal, you will remember to focus on how your site can help you

find those artists.

2. Would this project be more effective as a website, a blog, or both?

Recall that traditionally, blogs published time-sensitive information from a

personal perspective and encouraged comments from visitors. Websites were

static—their content didn't change much and focused on presenting

information, not soliciting feedback. But the distinction between websites and

blogs has blurred, thanks in large part to the ability of WordPress to produce

hybrid sites that combine static pages and time-sensitive posts.

Our goal is to offer pets for adoption. That means the site must feature both static

and time-sensitive elements:

Since we'll include about the same number of pages and posts, this project will

be effective as a hybrid. This format lets us update which animals are available

for adoption (in the blog portion) and present static information (in the website

portion).

As we move through the course, you'll see that WordPress is well equipped to

handle both blog and website formats.

3. What kind of presentation would be most effective?

One of the big pluses of using WordPress is that you don't have to spend hours

working on your website's appearance. On the self-hosted WordPress.org

platform, you can choose from literally thousands of professionally designed

themes. Themes come in all kinds of designs, colors, and column

configurations. And you can "audition" any or all of them with a click of your

mouse button.

We'll have plenty of pet photos to provide visual interest, so we should

probably keep the design simple. A horizontal menu bar near the top of the

page helps visitors get around the site. And since we want to present a clean,

uncluttered look, there's no reason to include more than two columns (page

divisions) on any page or post. So that's what we'll be looking for when it

comes time to choose a theme.

4. Should we encourage visitor feedback?

Involving website visitors can create a loyal community of users who could

increase the site's exposure through word of mouth. But a word of caution: If

the site becomes too popular, you may need to call on more people to help you

screen the feedback.

5. Which special functions would help our visitors?

In this case, we want to make it easy for people to decide whether to adopt from

us. We also want to streamline the adoption process. To fulfill those goals, we

might consider:

• A newsletter subscription form

• A contact form to allow visitors to ask for information not provided on the

website

• A pre-adoption application, so we can screen potential applicants

• A calendar of upcoming events

• A way to contribute money online

Can you think of anything else that would be useful?

We'll see which of these functions are available when we take a closer look at the

back-end features in WordPress.

6. Are there features we can add to make our site more useful to the people we want to serve?

We could ask a local vet to contribute regular posts. We could check out

YouTube for videos to use on the website. We could ask people who have

adopted pets from us to share their experiences in blog posts. Do you have

other suggestions?

I've asked all these questions to demonstrate what you should be thinking about before you

begin to set up your own WordPress blog or website. By planning ahead, you'll save time and

spare yourself aggravation. Asking these questions also helps you define your objectives.

It doesn't matter whether you're selling a product or service, promoting a business or

organization, or just letting your friends know how that pet rabbit is doing. First decide what

you want your website to accomplish, and then outline the most effective ways of getting there.

OK, we've put together a solid plan for our new website/blog. Now we'll do some hands-on

work.

Chapter 3: Creating a Post A blog is a collection of individual entries, known as posts. We're going to create a post for our

class project—a website called Pets to Go, designed for a fictitious organization that offers dogs

and cats for adoption.

Pets to Go will be a hybrid (a combination blog and website). The plan is to devote the blog

portion to descriptions and photos of pets available for adoption, and to use the static pages for

information about the shelter and the pet adoption process.

Since dogs and cats are the blog's focus, we'll begin by entering profiles of some of our furry

friends.

The first step is to reopen the WordPress administrative back end.

If you created a desktop shortcut or browser bookmark to your site's WordPress administration

area, click it now. Otherwise, in your browser’s address bar, type your blog address plus /wp-

admin, so it looks like this:

For SiteGround users: http://xxx.sg-host.com/wp-admin

When using your own domain: http://xxx.com/wp-admin

(In each case, replace xxx with your real domain’s name –which will be your first name with some

additional characters. You wrote down this important URL in Lesson 1.)

1. Log into the back end, and go to the WordPress menu (the far left column of the

Dashboard page).

2. Click Posts > All Posts. If you see any sample posts titled "Hello World!" or

"WordPress Resources at SiteGround," delete them: Hover your mouse cursor over

the title, and click the Trash link that appears below the title.

3. Now go to the top of the screen and click the Add New button (next to Posts).

This opens the Add New Post screen. (If you see a message that begins "SG

CachePress," click the link to hide that notice.) The top of the screen should look

like the page pictured below.

Add New Post screen

Under the "Add New Post" heading, you'll see a text box that says Enter title here.

4. Click inside the box and type Your Kids Will Love This Dog. (Or copy and paste this

text from this lesson.)

5. Below the title is the text box where you add your content. It looks like any word

processing or email editor.

6. Click the Preview button in the top-right corner. This will open the page in a new

browser tab to let you see the post how it will look on the Web page to your

visitors.

7. Now it's time to enter the content. Go back to the WordPress back end page (it’s

the tab in your browser just to the left of the preview page’s tab). You can begin

either by typing inside the text box or by pasting text that you've previously written

and saved in an editing application or Microsoft Word. To save time, I've provided

some content below. ***Select it by highlighting it with your mouse,

and then copy and paste it into the text box on the Add New Post page. (For

a refresher on how to copy and paste, visit the Supplementary Material

area.)

*** Unless you have opened this PDF file in Word or

some other editable program, you won’t be able to copy

any text from this PDF file. In that case,

remember you can always copy text from the lesson

version that’s on the website. Thanks!

RASCAL: 7 years old, neutered male, yellow Lab, 75 lbs.

Rascal was "surrendered" to us by his owner, who had lost his home to

foreclosure. He's great with other dogs, and he loves people, going for walks,

running, and playing Frisbee. He's good with children and enjoys riding in the

car. He has a cute habit of standing on his haunches and gently giving you his

front paws. Rascal shouldn't go to a home with cats, because he tends to chase

them.

Our vet has taken care of all Rascal's vaccinations, removed his dewclaws, and

microchipped him. He'd make a wonderful family dog.

If you're interested in Rascal, please call Donna at Pets to Go—(555) 555-5555.

Let's see how it looks online. Find the Publish box at the top of the right column. Click the blue

Publish button. When the screen refreshes, click View Post (over on the left, just above your

Page Title field).

Check out the information on the top of the post: This is known as metadata and includes the

author's name and the publish date. The Edit Post button is visible only on your computer,

because you're logged in to WordPress. No one else can see it. Click the Edit Post button to

return to the back end version of the post.

Let’s add another post? We'll follow the same steps:

1. Click the Add New button next to Edit Post (just above your Page Title field). Or go

to the WordPress Menu on the left and click Posts > Add New.

2. In the Enter Title text field on the new Add New Post screen, type A High-Energy

Bundle of Fun.

3. ***Copy and paste the text below, or try writing your own post.

CINDY: 3 years old, spayed female, Shepherd mix, 40 lbs.

Cindy came to us because her family was splitting up. She's never gotten the

attention a young dog needs.

Cindy is super playful. She loves toys, and her favorite game is fetch. She's a

smart cookie and adapts well to positive training. She already knows "sit,"

"down," "stay," "shake," and "sit pretty," and she's learning more fun tricks like

"roll over." Cindy is house-trained, rides well in the car, and enjoys being

brushed and groomed. She behaves well around the house and respects her

boundaries.

This special girl needs an adult-only home with people who have experience

with large dogs, so she can continue to develop into a well-adjusted dog. Cindy

needs someone who'll give her very clear rules, lots of love, and plenty of

exercise. In return, she'll be your loyal friend for life.

For information about Cindy, call Donna at Pets to Go: (555) 555-5555.

In the Publish box at the top of the right column, click the blue Publish button. When the screen

refreshes, click View Post.

Congratulations! You've created your first posts. If you want to add more, you'll find two sample

cat posts in this lesson's Assignment.

Click the Edit Post link to return to the back end.

WordPress doesn't by default display every feature available on the Posts editing pages. If I

refer to something you don’t see in the Post pages, click the Screen Options tab in the top right-

hand corner of the page. The window will expand.

Options for the Posts Edit Area

Click to add or remove a checkmark in the box next to any module you want to display or hide.

Then click the Screen Options tab once again to hide that panel. Note that these options are for

the Posts pages only. Other back-end pages will have their own options.

Publishing a Post

We've already used the WordPress Publish function to save our first posts. Now let's explore

some other publishing options.

Remember that the Publish module is the top box in the right-hand column of the Add New Post

page. When you've finished writing and formatting your post, you can save it without

publishing it by clicking Save Draft. When you decide the post is ready for the world to see, set

the option to Publish immediately, and click the blue Publish button in the lower-right corner.

Publishing options (expanded) for blog posts

However, WordPress also lets you choose the exact date and time to publish a post. If this is

important to you, click the Edit link next to Publish immediately, enter the date and time you

want your post to appear, and click OK. WordPress will remember to publish the post when you

specified. Because posts automatically display according to their published date, you can

change an entry's place in the list by entering a different date. Be sure to click Publish (or

Update) after you've set the posting date, or the date change won't take effect.

After you've published a page or post, you can always go back and make changes. But after first

publishing, you no longer see the blue Publish button. It will change to an Update button

instead. But as always, if you make any changes be sure to click that button after making your

edits, or the changes won't be saved.

Password Protecting Your Posts By default, the Visibility option (in the Publish module) is Public, allowing everybody to see the

entry you just published.

But what if you've written a post that you don't want to share with everyone? If you click Edit

(next to Visibility: Public), WordPress gives you some options:

• You can set a password for the post and give that password only to the people you

want to access it. To do that, click the radio button next to Password protected.

Type the password in the text box that opens.

• You could keep the post out of public view by clicking Private. I don't recommend

this, however, because there's really no reason to create a post if you want to keep

it hidden. And chances are if you make a post private, you'll even forget about it

yourself!

In Lesson 1, we discouraged search engines from visiting our site, listing our location as a work-

in-progress. It's also possible to hide the website from visitors by displaying an "Under

Construction" screen. It can be installed as a plugin, which I'll demonstrate later in the course.

Now that you've published a couple of posts, it's time to think about how to organize them.

We'll tackle that in the next chapter.

Chapter 4: How Can You Organize Posts?

Remember that blogs automatically sort and display entries chronologically. But even more

important than classifying posts by date is being able to arrange them by subject. The

WordPress Categories function lets you organize your site so visitors can do subject searches.

All this brings your blog closer to a classic online forum.

Depending on the theme (in other words, the WordPress template you're using), category lists

may show up in a sidebar menu, in the horizontal navigation bar under the header, or in both

places. We’ll have much more to say about templates shortly.

The default WordPress installation contains just one category for posts—Uncategorized—that

can't be deleted. As you add information, you can create new categories and assign one or

more categories to each post. Any post that you don't assign a category to gets the label

Uncategorized.

Let's look at our Pets to Go website to see how this works. So far, we've added two posts about

dogs up for adoption, but we'll also want to feature cats. Suppose someone comes to our site

looking for a dog. Without putting our adoptable dogs into their own category, the visitor would

have to look through every post to find what they want. But if we add a category called Dogs,

the visitor can narrow the search.

If you want, you can even create second-level posts in a category hierarchy. For example, we

can subdivide the Dogs category into two subcategories—Puppies and Mature Dogs. The visitor

could click the Dogs category to view all the available dogs . . . or, to narrow the search, she

could click the Puppies subcategory. Always try to make maneuvering your site efficient for

visitors.

Creating Categories and Subcategories You can add categories as you're creating a post, but I prefer to organize categories on the Posts

> Categories screen. To get there, click Posts, then Categories in the WordPress menu.

We'll first add the main categories, Dogs and Cats:

1. Type Dogs into the Name field.

2. Then type dogs into the Slug field.

3. Leave the Parent drop-down box displaying "None." That will make Dogs a parent

category that can include child subcategories under it.

4. Click the Add New Category button.

Now repeat these steps for a Cats category (end by clicking Add New Category).

Let's add sub-categories now:

1. Type Puppies into the Name field; and puppies into the Slug field.

2. But this time, select Dogs from the Parent drop-down window.

Adding a sub-category

The trick to creating a sub-category is simply to select a Parent category for it.

3. Click Add New Category.

Now you can add Mature Dogs as a subcategory under Dogs. When you've finished that, add

Kittens and Mature Cats as subcategories under Cats. Here's how the table on the right side of

the Categories will look when you're done:

Category listing

To edit or delete any category or subcategory, put your cursor on the name, and click the

option, which will appear underneath.

One more step: We must go back to each post and assign the categories. On the Menu, click

Posts > All Posts:

One of the nice things about WordPress is that there are often two or more ways to do the

same task. For example, we could assign categories to posts by opening each Edit Post screen

and working in the Categories module. But I think it's easier to use the Quick Edit feature on the

Posts > All Posts screen. Hover your cursor under the first post title (A High-Energy Bundle of

Fun), and click Quick Edit.

That opens a panel allowing you to change the post's title or slug, its publish date, to password

protect the post, allow visitor comments, and assign categories. Because this post is about a

mature dog, we'll go to the Categories area in the center of the panel, and check the boxes next

to Dogs and Mature Dogs. You can also use the scroll bar to see, then remove, the check next to

Uncategorized. Click the blue Update button when you're done . . . and move on to categorize

the other post.

The expanded Quick Edit panel

Besides categories, WordPress gives you yet another tool—called tags—to help visitors zoom in

on specific information within your posts. For example, the Pets to Go site already contains a

parent category called Dogs with the subcategories Puppies and Mature Dogs. You know that

many visitors like to search by breed, but you don't want to make your category lists unwieldy

by adding too many topics. By making the dog's breed a tag to an individual post, you'll help the

visitor find the kind of dog he's looking for without diluting the categories.

Here's how to add a tag to a post. Hover your mouse over the Your Kids Will Love This Dog

entry. Click Quick Edit.

Want to give it a try? Open the post about Rascal, and type Yellow Lab in the tag name box.

Click Update. The post will now display Yellow Lab as a tag. When visitors click the tag, they'll

see other posts that share the same tag— and that helps them narrow their choices quickly.

It's possible to display every post tag in the site's sidebar (a narrower column that sits next to or

below the main content area on the Web page). That would allow a visitor to see a list of every

post containing the tag, when the visitor clicks that tag. You'll find out how to do that later in

the course.

Confused about the difference between categories and tags? Think about categories as a blog's

table of contents. In contrast, tags are like the items listed in the index. In other words,

categories tend to be broad, and tags tend to be very specific.

Very good! Now that we've created an easy way for our visitors to find the subjects they're

looking for, I'll show you how to set up WordPress to handle visitors' comments.

Managing Feedback One of a blog's most compelling features is its ability to stimulate a dialog among its readers. By

allowing website visitors to comment on your entries—and on other visitors' comments—you

can create a loyal community of participants.

But encouraging feedback can also lead to unwanted consequences, including inappropriate

comments and spam. Fortunately, WordPress comes with lots of options to manage and control

responses.

You can set these options to work globally (so they apply to the entire blog) or by individual

post. We'll start with the site-wide controls.

Setting Global Options for Comments Let's start by setting options that will apply to every blog post you create.

1. Go to your WordPress menu (over on the left).

2. Use the menu to open the Settings > Discussion screen.

The Discussion Settings screen lets you specify your preferences about how visitors can

comment on blog posts. It's designed to keep spam and inappropriate material from appearing

on your blog. Choose the settings illustrated below. If you don't like the way they filter your

blog's comments, you can always change the settings later.

Part of Discussion settings screen

This configuration will require anyone who wants to comment to provide an e-mail address. It

will also keep all comments unpublished unless or until you approve them. (WordPress will send

you an e-mail whenever someone submits a comment.)

Requiring an e-mail address will likely result in fewer posts, but the ones you get will be of

higher quality. Why? Because the person posting knows that you can report inappropriate posts

or spam to that person's Internet service provider—and many ISPs delete the accounts of

members who cause this kind of trouble. There's a similar trade-off with requiring approval of

comments. It will take longer for users to see the comments, but they'll be of better quality

because you will have deleted all the off-topic posts, advertisements, and other inappropriate

messages.

After you've made your choices, scroll down and click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.

Once you start receiving comments, they'll appear in a module titled Recent Comments on your

Dashboard page. From there, you'll be able to open a Comments page, where you can accept,

edit, or delete the feedback.

Setting Options for an Individual Post

You just specified how you want to handle all the posts in your blog. But what if you want to

handle responses to individual posts in a different way?

To override the global settings and customize the way you want to deal with an individual post,

you need to open that post for editing. In the Menu, click Posts, and then click the title of the

post to be reconfigured.

To try this out, let's look at the "A High-Energy Bundle of Fun" post you entered earlier (the one

about Cindy).

1. Open the Edit Post page by clicking Posts > All Posts in the WordPress menu, and

then hover your mouse over the post's title.

2. Click Quick Edit.

3. Over to the right, below the Tags field, uncheck the box next to Allow Comments.

You can also control trackbacks and pingbacks (they tell you when other blogs have linked to

yours). Let's leave that box checked.

Click Update in the Publish box to save your change. Once again, always remember to click

Update (or a similar button) to save any edits, or they’ll be ignored.

Then click View . There won't be a "Leave a Reply" box on the Web page, as there is on the

other post.

Thanks to this modification, the Discussion specifications for this post now overrides the global

settings on the Discussion Settings screen.

Time now to head over to Chapter 5 for a review of what you've accomplished!

Chapter 5: Summary Summary You probably know a lot more about blogs and posts than when we started! You've learned

when to use posts and how to create entries by adding text. You also refined the posts and

reviewed the publishing options that WordPress offers. And finally, you discovered all the ways

you can handle visitors' comments. How will you use these skills in your own Web projects?

For more information and further practice, be sure to visit the Supplementary

Material links, the Frequently Asked Questions section, and the lesson Assignment.

Next time, we'll examine how to build static websites. We'll also discuss situations in which it's

more appropriate to use a Web page than a blog post. I look forward to seeing you there.