Website or Blog on WordPress.com

Website or Blog on WordPress.com
A Tutorial Prepared Bony W Rakhman, SST

www.bonysst.blogspot.com

Introduction
A WordPress CMS website (or blog) is easy to use, provides an immediate internet presence, and is very cost effective. The system allows an administrator/s to easily manage a blog or website, while the general public can also contribute if they wish and only if their comments are manually 'approved' by the administrator.
What are the advantages of a WordPress Website or Blog?
A WordPress blog places your information in another sub-universe on the web the Blog-o-sphere. By using "Tags" (discussed in more detail later) for each of your 'posts' (articles), other people interested in your topic can find your information immediately and easily through other blogs and 'RSS feeds'. In this way, your posts may attract visitors who might not otherwise come across your website.
It also provides an easy-to-use system for updating and maintaining your website.
Blog Strategy
If you have both a website and a blog, always keep in mind your strategy for your blog. The goal is to provide interesting, up-to-date information on your blog and then deep link to your website.
If you are using your blog as a website, remember the most important thing about any web presence is to provide accurate, up-to-date information about your business or organisation.
Getting Started
For most of you reading this tutorial, your blog will already be set up at an address such as this:
http://your-website.wordpress.com/
This guide is a simple introduction to managing your WordPress (TM) website or blog. 
Log in

To administer the site, go to:
http://your-website.wordpress.com/wp-admin/
Or simply click on the "log-in" link on the right side of your blog. And enter your user name and password:
Username: Password:
When you log-in you will see the home page of the site along with links at the top of the page:

Click on My Dashboard to manage the site.
If you have not logged out since your last session, you may not need to log-in when you re-visit the blog.

Dashboard
All you can do with your site is in the Dashboard. A history of edits is also shown on the Dashboard home
page.
You would usually begin by writing a new Post or a Page (see detail under New Post below)
A Post is the traditional date-ordered entry, which is a useful way to present an evolving, event-centered
'blog'. WordPress also lets you create and edit static pages, and even organise them into a hierarchy.

Writing a new Post
After the initial set-up, the majority of your time will be spent writing "posts" or articles on your blog. This is the nuts & bolts of the blog.
1. Title, Text, Tags and Categories
Title: Start with a captivating, descriptive title.
Post: Your post can contain text, links and images. After you write your text, you can format it will italic,
bold, colors, bulleted lists, etc.
NOTE: It is NOT RECOMMENDED to copy & paste from Microsoft Word into the Post window, because
of the internal formatting of the Word Document.
Tags: This is where you want to put in succinct, descriptive words about your blog post, what we call 'keywords.' The idea is to use phrases that would attract people who you think will be interested in
reading the content of your blog.
Category: Your numerous posts can be displayed by categories, so this is a good way to keep things
organized. It also helps you to fine-tune your keyword phrases and ideas.
When you are finished writing you can "Save" the post, which will save it as a draft in your posts section, or you can "Publish" it, which will make it live on your blog.
2. Adding Links
Adding links to external websites is easy to do.

To add a link (hyperlink) to your text, simply highlight the text and click on the chain-link icon at the top of the window. Then type the link into the window (or copy & paste it from your browser). The link will start with "http://…"
Click Insert, then when you are done Save.
To remove the link from your text, highlight it then click the broken-link icon. 3. Adding& Formatting Images
There are two ways to add images to a post. You can link directly to an image that already exists on the web or you can upload one from your computer.
Option 1: To link to an existing image (for example, An image on your website) click the picture icon in the toolbar (see second diagram below).
Enter the location of the image: http://www.your-website.com/images/image1.jpg
Left - Image goes to left, text wraps to right.
Right - Image goes to right, text wraps to left.
Center Image is centered and text goes below.
Dimensions Not necessary unless you are re-sizing.
Image Description Use keywords!
Border Enter 1 for a thin border around your image, 2 for thicker border, etc.
Vertical & Horizontal space - This creates white space around the image before the text starts usually a
setting of 8 to 12 pixels is sufficient.

Option 2: Upload an image from your computer.
Click the 'Browse' button to navigate to the image on your computer. Enter a Title if you like (use those keywords again!), then click "Upload."
In the next window, select 'Full Size' and 'None."
Then click "Send to Editor."
Now you can click on that image in the Editor Window if you want to set alignment, border, or spacing.

4. A few more notes about images and advanced features:
All of the images you have uploaded can be viewed from the "Browse All" tab.
Videos and Slideshows can also be added to your blog.