Getting started with blogging generally comes with a list of Dos’ and Don’ts. Creating an online presence through a blog is indeed a rewarding experience. If you’ve got an idea and want the world to know about it, there’s no better way than to begin to create a blogging website. But there is a sea of options when it comes to choosing a user-friendly blogging platform.
WordPress Development is being leveraged by millions of users these days, wanting to expand their influence through the medium of a robust, scalable blog. Another reason for the popularity of WordPress Development is that it provides its users with an extremely easy to use interface. Even a newbie can quickly get accustomed to the string of various WordPress functionalities. Here’s a quick guide on how to navigate through them.
WordPress hosting, installing and configuring settings.
Hosting is one of the foremost aspects of WordPress Development. It is much better to invest in a paid hosting plan than a free one. It is because it does a much better job of taking care of your site.
The most popular hosting service for WordPress is Bluehost. To avail of this service, visit the Bluehost site, and select a hosting plan. They offer various plans differentiated by their features—the basic starts from $2.75 per month. Next, you need to choose a domain name from several ones like .com, .net, and .org.
Next, proceed with the registration process by filling in the registration form that will require your billing and personal details. After your payment information has been entered, you’ll need to set your password, which will be used for verification. Now all you need to do is log in to your brand-new website.
Navigating general WordPress settings
WordPress Development is highly customizable. The settings menu has several different options.
- The site title and tagline on it should be set up as you begin with your website. It is usually similar to your URL and provides readers an in-depth view of your blog. However, they can be modified at any time you wish to.
- The WordPress settings for writing allow you to set a default post category and post type for your writings. If this is your first day on your site, you shouldn’t pay much attention to this setting. You can set it up when you have posted a considerable number of articles on your website.
- The reading WordPress setting enables you to customize your homepage. You can choose how your homepage will look to visitors, which posts will show in it, and which not.
- The discussion WordPress settings allow you to configure reader comments. Again, you can choose whether readers can post comments or whether you should manually approve their comments.
- The media WordPress settings provide you cropping options like thumbnail, large, or medium image. Again, WordPress Development proves to be highly customizable as you’ll find options for customizing images or using default sizes.
- Your URL, combined with your unique page, makes up your permalinks. They appear on the browser when someone is viewing a particular site page. WordPress presents you with various permalink formats. However, once a permalink structure has been chosen for publishing posts, it is advised not to change it without adequate planning. Frequent changing breaks them and can present your viewers with 404 errors on your website.
- Take some time to fill the user profile section, which can be found in the user settings. Add a bio, i.e., a short description of yourself if your theme supports it.
Selecting a suitable theme
Themes are an intrinsic part of WordPress Development. A theme sets the appearance of your blog. Naturally, bloggers spend hours and even days on deciding the perfect theme. It should be noted that you should prioritize creating content for your readers and visitors rather than focussing too much on themes.
Activate some Plugins
Your website is now fully optimized for your content production. All you have to do is go to your dashboard, choose ‘Posts,’ then select’ Add new.’ Enter your post title and start writing. Explore various types of ‘post’ options like audio, video, image, quote, and choose what best suits you. After your post is done, click ‘Publish.’ That’s it; you’ve successfully created your first blog post!
Conclusion
There are a plethora of possibilities offered by WordPress to anyone who’s starting with blogging. The above steps provide, in a nutshell, all the essential requirements for you to begin producing content. Apart from them, WordPress offers several other services and options that you’ll find no problem exploring by yourself as you get used to this useful blogging platform.