Student guide for creating a blog on www.wordpress.com
The purpose of this guide is to help students understand the steps necessary in creating
a blog on wordpress.com. The blog includes all the steps with illustrations on how to
create a blog. The guide also provides references for students to look up and gain more
information about blogs.
Lesson objective:
The learners will learn how to build a blog on www.wordpress.com.
The learners will learn how to add content, images and videos to their blogs.
The learners will learn how to attract an audience, tell a story, share thoughts about a
subject, or make money online through ads or affiliated programs on their blogs.
The learner will enhance his or her knowledge of a computer, mouse, keyboard and
Internet browser on a computer that uses a windows 7 operating system.
This student guide has the following four sections. Each section has information related
to the lesson which will help students understand the creation of a blog.
Section 1: About Microsoft windows 7 operating system and internet browsers.
Section 2: About blogs.
Section 3: Creating an email address.
Section 4: Blog creation.
Learners in the lesson will be using a windows 7 operating system and a web browser
to create a blog on www.wordpress.com. Students can use any operating system and
any web browser outside of the lesson to create their blogs. The steps of the blog
creation are the same on all web browsers.
Section 1: Microsoft windows 7 operating system and web browsers
Windows 7 operating system
Windows 7 is an operating system for personal computers made by Microsoft that was
launched in October 2009. Windows 7 replaced Windows Vista. Most computers today
use the Microsoft windows 7 operating system. Windows 7 has a graphical user
interface (GUI) that allows you to interact with items on the screen using a keyboard
and mouse.
Web browsers
A web browser (commonly referred to as a browser) is a software application for
retrieving, presenting and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web.
Some commonly used internet browsers.
• Firefox
• Google Chrome
• Internet explorer
• Opera
A web browser is a software application which is used by millions of people around the
world to access the internet. In our time almost everyone uses a browser to perform
some kind of operation. It is used to visit websites, get directions, read the news and
anything they are interested in.
Section 2: About blogs
What is a blog?
A blog is a personal website or web page on which an individual records opinions, links
to other sites, etc. on a regular basis.
Why create a blog?
1. To market and promote something.
Blogging is a great way to promote yourself, your business, your product or service.
2. To help people.
Many blogs are written to help people who may be going through similar situations that
the blogger has experienced. By sharing life experiences individuals can help millions of
people.
3. To market and promote something.
Blogging is a great way to promote yourself, your business, your product or service.
4. To help people.
Many blogs are written to help people who may be going through similar situations that
the blogger has experienced. By sharing life experiences individuals can help millions of
people.
Articles on why you should create a blog:
http://www.startwordpressblog.com/why-create-a-blog/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-ingham/how-to-make-money-from-
bl_b_5500163.html
Videos on the importance of a blog:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-ingham/how-to-make-money-from-
bl_b_5500163.html
Michael Hyatt Shares How He Grew His Blog To Over 350,000: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s75yWp6NOJM
Blogging tutorial: Why blog for business? | lynda.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sn7eCs6nEQ
Section 3: Creating an email address
To create a blog on www.wordpress.com, each student must have an email address.
Having an email account is an integral part of our lives today; almost every website you
go on will ask you to sign up with an email address to receive membership, discount
coupons, newsletters and much more.
Browse to www.hotmail.com or www.gmail.com and click on sign up now.
Fill up the sign up form and sign into your email account.
Most people today have email addresses because they are used as a means of
communication with people, businesses and transactions.
Tutorial on how to create an email account on www.gmail.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koJlF6YDqqA
Tutorial on how to create an email account on www.hotmail.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffjur_0BZXI
Section 4: Blog creation.
This section includes all steps necessary to create a blog on www.wordpress.com.
Follow the steps and image illustrations to create a wordpres blog successfully.
WordPress is a free and open source blogging tool and a content management system
(CMS) based on PHP and MySQL, which runs on a web hosting service. Features
include plugin architecture and a template system. WordPress is used by more than
22.0% of the top 10 million websites.
We will be creating our blogs on www.wordpress.com
Browse to www.wordpress.com and click on “Create website”
Fill the sign up form
In the email section fill in the email
address you created
Give yourself a username
Choose a password that you will
remember
Give your blog an address.
Wordpress has 3 types of accounts:
1. Wordpress.com Beginner
2. Wordpress.com Premium
3. Wordpress.com Business
Wordpress.com Beginner is a free account, which allows user
to create and publish blogs. Click on “Create blog” after you
fill out the sign up form.
Upon the completion of the sign up form students will be able to begin the blog setup
process.
Blog setup (5 steps)
There are 5 steps to setting up your blog on wordpress.com. It is important for you
complete all 5 steps before moving on.
Step 1:
Give your blog a Title (something you want
to blog about)
Give your blog a Tagline
Choose a language
Step 2 Blog theme:
What is a Wordpress theme?
A WordPress Theme is a collection of files that work together to produce a graphical interface with an underlying unifying design for a weblog. These files are called template files. A Theme modifies the way the site is displayed, without modifying the underlying software. There are free themes you can choose in
this step.
Choose any free theme that you would like for
your blog.
More information about wordpress themes
http://www.johnhaydon.com/2010/08/18/wordpress-theme-choose/
http://ithemes.com/tutorials/what-is-a-wordpress-theme/
Step 3 theme customization:
In this step you can customize your theme. Customizing a theme is
a neat way of presenting your blog. You can customize the colours
and images based on what you like such as logos to your header.
Click on “customize it”
Customize color of theme.
By clicking on the color you can change the background color of
your selected theme.
Customize your header
By clicking on the “header” section you can upload an
image from your computer and set it as the header of
your theme.
Videos for customizing wordpress themes
These videos will help you customize your themes.
How to Customize Your WordPress Theme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aXS5sEVpmQ
WordPress Custom Header Tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2dGwW9KENc
WordPress tutorial: Basic theme customization | lynda.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeyWa_uf1FQ
Step 4 connecting to social media
Social media is a great way to spread your
word and share your blog with family and
friends.
Connect your blog to twitter or Facebook to
move on to the next step.
Step 5 creating a rough blog:
Create a simple blog piece. “Click on
text”
Fill in the title and description box.
Click next.
Confirm your email address:
In order to get your blog working, wordpress requires you to log in to the email address
you signed up with and confirm your Wordpress account. Login and confirm our new
wordpress account.
Create a category for your blog:
A blog piece should have categories. Categories help you organize your blog. For
example if you had a blog about car, you should have categories for the different types
of cars you want to blog about.
Click on the tab “posts”
Click on “Categories”
Give you category a name &
Description
Click on
First fully functional blog piece:
We will create a blog piece step by step together.
Click on ‘posts’ in the dashboard menu
Click on ‘Add new’
When you click on “Add new” the browser takes you to a
page where you can create your blog without having to
write any code. Wordpress has a content management
system, which always users to seamlessly create blogs and websites without struggling.
Think about what you want to write about when you are filling this section out.
Enter a title for your blog.
A Catchy title will attract attention.
In the given space write about something or
browse to Google and search some
information about a topic you like and copy
& paste it into the provided area.
Click on “publish”. Publish allows you to
publish this blog for
public viewing.
Creating a blog with an image:
On the top left corner of the page you will see your username.
Hover over it and click on dashboard.
Blogs with images help convey a deeper message. Images are a good way to elaborate
on what you want to say. For example anyone passionate about world peace can right
many paragraphs about a graphic image of war.
This section will have an activity to enhance you learning.
Let’s start by opening the window where you can add
a new blog.
Click on “Add new”
Fill in “Toronto blue Jays” the title space provided.
Go to google.com and type “Toronto blue jays
images”. Pick any image, right click and save the
image to desktop.
Click on “Add media”
Under “upload files” than click on “Select files” and select the image
you just saved on your desktop.
Click “Insert into post”
Go to www.google.com search an article on
“Toronto blue jays” copy and paste it into the
space provided for the content of the blog.
Click on “publish”
Create a blog with a Video
Videos are a great way to communicate a solid point to your audience. Many blog
writers use videos to prove their point and expand on what they have to say. Videos
generate a lot of views and attract people to read a blog which has a video.
Let’s start by opening the window where you can add a new blog.
Click on “Add new”
Fill in the title and description of what you want your blog to be about.
Go to www.youtube.com and search for a video related to what you want your blog to be.
Copy the link from YouTube.
Click on “Add media”
Click on the tab “Insert YouTube”
Paste the link you copied from YouTube
into the box that says “search YouTube”
Select the video and insert.
Write a description for your blog.
Publish your blog piece.
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