How to Blog with WordPress

If you want to or you already started blogging with the WordPress platform, there are a couple of things you should know before you go any further. Regardless of the niche of your blog, there are general things about running a blog which you must learn. It doesn’t matter if your writing can put Shakespeare to shame; if you don’t respect the rules of blogging, you will end up with no readers and no profit from your blog. Here are the basics of WordPress blogging:

WordPress installation

A good blog is always self-hosted. You won’t find a successful blogger with a free WordPress domain, so invest between $50 and $100 in your own domain and hosting. The next thing you have to do is install WordPress on your newly purchased blog. Being such a popular platform, all hosting companies will offer you a WordPress installation button in the control panel and the whole process is very easy. However, if something goes wrong, just contact the hosting provider and they should help you fix any issues regarding the hosting installation.

Themes

After you have installed WordPress on your blog, you have to choose a theme. There are several free themes offered by WordPress and they look decent. If you want to customize the look of your website and make it look professional, you will have to choose a professional theme. Go with something modern and mobile friendly, because most of your readers will be visiting your blog from mobile devices. WittyThemes is a great place where you can find a blogging theme that will satisfy your needs.

Don’t get too much into it!

When you will see yourself in the CMS (content management system) of your website, you will be tempted to install all the plugins and widgets available. This is one of the most common mistakes made by new bloggers. Resist the temptation and install plugins only if you know why you need them, not because maybe you’ll need them sometime.

Your first blog post

As soon as you have installed WordPress on your new site, you will be able to start blogging. Your first post should be about you, your plans for the blog, and about the niche you want to approach. Keep your sentences short and to the point. Your first post would cover the duties of a press release, but it shouldn’t have the same format. Check out the first posts of your favorite bloggers for guidance. WordPress offers you a large variety of editing features and functions. You can add just about anything to your blog posts, from pictures and videos to GIFs and vote polls.

Mandatory pages

Before or right after publishing your first blog post, but not later, you must create your About and Contact pages. These pages are like a business card for your blog. You will be surprised to know how many opportunities you could miss without a Contact page.

Always look for guidance

If you personally know an experienced blogger that also uses WordPress, his guidance is gold. No matter how much you read about blogging, experience will teach you most of the things you have to know. If you don’t have someone to share their experience with you, there is an alternative. Blogs about blogging with WordPress and forums on the same topic are great sources of learning from the experience and mistakes of experienced bloggers.