This document provides an overview of blogging basics, including what blogs are, popular blogging platforms, and key features for beginners. It discusses the differences between self-hosted and free platforms, particularly focusing on WordPress.org versus WordPress.com, and highlights important elements like content management, commenting, and blog customization. Additionally, it emphasizes the control and monetization opportunities associated with choosing the right blogging platform.

1. Blogging Basics
What are blogs, choosing a
blog site/service, and
getting started.

2. Class Overview
1. What are blogs?
1. Top Blogging Sites & Services
2. Before you start:
1. Choosing a blog platform
2. Self-hosted vs. “Free”
3. WordPress
1. WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com
2. Starting a WordPress.com Blog
3. Choosing a Theme
4. Creating Content
5. Managing Your Blog

3. What is a blog?
"Blog" is an abbreviated version of "weblog," which is a
term used to describe websites that maintain an ongoing
chronicle of information.

4. Blog Topics: From Specific to General
Technology
Gizmodo.com
Particular Topics/Subjects Aggregators
Personal Journals
Variety of News
Huffingtonpost.com

5. Top Blogs on the Web

6. What first-time bloggers need to know

7. Parts of a Blog

8. Content
Content defines your blog. Retail sites feature a catalog of products.
University sites contain information about their campuses, curriculum,
and faculty. News sites show the latest news stories. For a personal
blog, you might have a bunch of observations, or reviews.
Official Coke Blog
www.coca-colacompany.com/
coca-cola-unbottled

9. Comments
Most blogs have a method to allow visitors to leave comments.
By allowing comments, bloggers add interactivity between their
content and their followers.
Example of Comments
http://steamed.kotaku.com

10. Blogroll
A blogroll is a list, sometimes categorized, of links to
webpages the author of a blog finds worthwhile or
interesting.

11. Feeds (RSS Feeds)
A Feed is a function of special software that allows "Feedreaders" to
access a site automatically looking for new content and then post
updates about that new content to another site.

12. Popular Feed Readers
https://feedly.comhttps://digg.com
RSS (alternately defined as
"Rich Site Summary" or
"Really Simple Syndication"),
powers many feed readers.

13. Archive
A lot of blogs feature an archive based on dates (like a
monthly or yearly archive). The front page of a blog may
feature a calendar of dates linked to daily archives.

14. Permalinks
A permalink is what another weblogger will use to refer to
your article (or section), or how you might send a link to your
story in an e-mail message.
A “Pretty” Permalink
/archives/2003/05/23/my-cheese-sandwich/
Automatically Generated Permalink
/index.php?p=423
Typically, auto-
permalinks are
incomprehensible and
someone checking your
site’s URL will not be to
understand its structure.

15. Marc’s blog is “hackable” as you
can quickly edit the date to find
the corresponding entries for the
day, month, and year.
“Pretty” Permalinks Example: http://blog.pmarca.com/

17. Blog Platforms: WordPress and Others

18. Self-Hosted vs. “Free” Platforms
• yourblog.wordpress.com
• yourblog.blogspot.com
• yourblog.tumblr.com
Awkward URL
There are many “Free” to setup blogging platforms, but they often
offer limited features. Hosting your own blog may have more of an
initial setup and learning curve, but ultimately offers more control
over your content.
Free Hosting Negatives
• Monetization Limited
• Storage (images/videos)
• Themes
Lots of Limits
You Don’t Own Your Blog
The Free platform is the host and
some have been known to delete
content, or even disappear.

19. WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com
WordPress.com is a commercial site where you can
host your own site for free, but with some limitations.
• Hosting with WordPress.com means that your site will
be free forever, but you can also pay to upgrade your
site to achieve your specific needs.
• Your site will be well looked after with top of the line
spam-fighting power and automatic security updates.
• All you need to do is sign up and choose your blog
name, then design your site
WordPress.org is where you can grab your own copy of
the WordPress blogging/Content Management System
(CMS) software for free.
• You’re responsible for finding your own hosting
company to house your WordPress site along with your
own domain name to point visitors to it.
• You’ll also have full control over the WordPress
software and your site.
Source: http://premium.wpmudev.org/blog/wordpress-org-vs-wordpress-com-2015/

20. Costs: WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com
Source:
http://premium.wpmudev.org/blog
/wordpress-org-vs-wordpress-com-
2015/

21. Features: WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com
Most experts recommend
that anyone who is serious
about blogging, especially
those who wish to
monetize their content,
setup with the
WordPress.org platform.
Source: http://premium.wpmudev.org/blog/wordpress-org-vs-
wordpress-com-2015/

22. The Self-Hosting Route
The domain is basically the URL of your website. It’s what
appears before the “.com” “.edu” “.org” in the URL.
• www.google.com domain is google.com
• www.facebook.com domain is facebook.com
• www.yourname.com domain is yourname.com
A “Host” is basically the company that puts your website up on the
internet so everyone else can see it. Everything will be saved on there.
Think of it as a computer hard-drive on the internet where your blog
will be saved.
Hosting
Domains

23. Creating a Domain & Finding a Host
https://www.ipage.com
Some hosts offer a
combination of hosting and
domain name registration.
Also, many offer 1-click
installations for WordPress.

24. https://www.godaddy.com/

25. https://www.siteground.com

27. A Wordpress.com Site

30. WordPress.com
will offer you the
option to register
a custom domain
for a subscription
price.
If you already have a
registered domain,
you can “Map it” so
your new blog will
appear when the
domain is entered.

35. Activate Your Account

38. A Gravatar is a Globally Recognized Avatar. You upload it and create
your profile just once, and then when you participate in any Gravatar-
enabled site, your Gravatar image will automatically follow you there. It
is included in every WordPress.com account.

40. Freshly Pressed is a collection of excellent posts on a wide range of
topics from across the WordPress.com community. New posts are hand-
picked daily by our editors.
Recommended Blogs are blogs that consistently publish great content,
also selected by the editors at WordPress.com. They’re organized by
topic, so you can hone in on exactly what interests you.
Following shows you the
newest posts from the blogs
you follow, and is the default
Reader view. Click on the
gear icon to edit your
preferences for those blogs —
you can choose to receive
new posts by email as well as
in your Reader.

41. Explore the Menus
There are lots of different settings to review on your
dashboard. Be sure to check each one!

44. You’ll want to update
the site’s title, as the
default is base don the
domain – which may or
may not work.

46. The “Widgets”
offer the option to
further customize
the content on
your blog.

47. Decide if you want to write a post or a page: A post is an update, and
as you add each new one, the others will be pushed down the stack.
• A page is a piece of content you want to stick around, and are likely to
link to from your blog’s navigation — the most common example is an
“About me” page that tells readers who you are.
1.Publish a post: Head to My Sites → Blog Posts → Add. Give your
masterwork a title, throw down some words, and click Publish.
2.Publish a page: Mosey on over to My Sites → Pages → Add in your
dashboard. The rest is almost identical to posting, so you’ve got this in
the bag.
Create a menu: Help readers find all your great posts and pages with
navigation that gets them where you want them to go. You can create
new menus with pages, blog categories, or your own custom links. Go
to My Sites → Menus to get started.

51. You set the post to publish
immediately, save a draft, wait
for a review, or schedule to post
in the future.
You can also add tags and place
the post into categories.
Remember not to go overboard.

52. The “slug” is text part of your permalink. It is
set to be the title of your post by default, but
some titles can be too long (rethink the title if
that’s the case too).
https://uboundlibrary.wordpress.com/2015/
09/30/kindle-fires-new-price-cheap-
circulating-tablets

53. You can always preview
your posts.

56. Blogger
Blogger is an easy to use and setup blogging
platform run by Google. It includes many
Google-friendly features.

57. Tumblr
Tumblr is more of a social media platform
than robust blogging platform, but is
especially tailored to image & video focused
posts. It’s run by

58. Website Builders: Weebly & Wix

59. Questions?
https://learn.wordpress.com
https://codex.wordpress.org

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Originally created by Rino A. Landa, Sept. 2015.