Knowing the basics of WordPress is essential if you want to run your own blog, or simply update or guest post on one. If you want to start your own blog in WordPress with custom domain and hosting facility, you need to choose a domain name. Then you will have to buy the domain and will have to host it in a web hosting company. Though the terms are bit technical but the process is really easy. Almost like plug and play. You can buy the domain and hosting from the same company. When I started my blogging in WordPress, I bought the domain and hosting from the same company. I bought a hatching plan and domain from Hostgator. The hatching plan was really awesome cause it allows one domain hosting and unlimited space with reasonable price. If you want to check or buy the hosting plan, you can click here for best Hostgator hosting plan. Beginners ! 3 Possible Ways to Get Website is an article for those who want to start a new blog.
You can read my personal experience about why I choose to purchase domain and hosting from Hostgator for the last 4 years. In the article, I have written the main reasons behind choosing Hostgator hosting, which hosting plan of Hostgator to choose and what are the advantages of Hostgator hosting.
Posting an article is simple when you know how. Here is our step by step guide for adding a post to WordPress, including inserting text, adding images, meta tags and more.
- The first thing you will need to do once you have logged into WordPress is go to ‘Posts’ ‘Add new post’. Copy and paste the main body of your article choosing ‘paste as plain text’ to avoid any formatting issues.
2. Next add the article’s title in ‘enter title here’. You can also adjust the permalink to reflect the subject matter more accurately.
3. Above your post you will see the ‘wizziwig’. This is where you can bold, italic and under line as necessary, similar to the way you use Microsoft Word. Use ‘paragraph’ to get a variety of heading sizes.
You can also check “WordPress Twenty Eleven Tips and Tricks“ to know more about how to customize your Twenty Eleven WordPress Blog.
4. If your post contains any information that needs referencing you can use the hyperlink tool to do this. The button is visible just to the left of the opened window in the screen shot below. Simply highlight the phrase where you want to add a link, click the hyperlink button and add the URL you want to link to.
I have written one post about “Strategic Tips to Work with Your WordPress Blog” to capture the strategy.
5. Next add an SEO title and meta description. These are important as they appear in search results, enticing a reader to click through to your post. They are also valuable for SEO purposes.
6. You will probably want to add an image; this will make your post more visually appealing and interesting. Simply go to ‘Add Media’ above the wizziwig, then either drag and drop the image you want to use onto this window, or choose ‘select files’ to choose it from your computer.
7. Adding a title and alt text to your image will be effective for SEO purposes and also help the visually impaired. Give a short general description of the image for ‘title’ and a more detailed one for ‘alt text’.
8. With your text and image added your post should now be ready to go. It is a good idea to ‘preview’ before you post to make sure it appears as you want it to when published. Hit ‘publish’ for your article to appear on your site instantly, or got to ‘publish immediately’ ‘edit’ to choose a specific time and date.
You have now uploaded your first blog post! If you want to learn more WordPress trick, you can browse the WordPress category in this blog.
When you are talking above about image descriptions, am I right in thinking that the alt text has to be a literal description of what is actually being shown in the image? e.g yellow smiley face
Yes, the alt text and also the caption of the image is important for WordPress SEO.