I’ve been blogging a little more than five years now. Admittedly the pace has picked up in the last year and as a result I’ve learned a few new tips and ticks to go with the old tried and true ones. Over the next three Fridays I am sharing the best of what I’ve learned. The format I’ve chosen will allow you to use this as a how-to follow along course or a reference to check you blog practices against.
Week 1: Up and running
Day 1 Decide between your blog being hosted and self-hosted. The previous link is an infographic that explains some of the key difference between hosted and self-hosted WordPress blogs.
– and write your first post (I suggest using Google Docs) If you aren’t sure what to write about consider a post about what inspired you to begin this 21 day project. It will be a great post to look back at in ten or so days when this project feels overwhelming.
Day 2 Set-up your blog based upon hosting decision from Day 1
– I recommend self-hosting in which case you could follow the WordPress Quick Start Guide (The other option is to sign-up for a free account at WordPress.com and follow the set-up instructions there.
– proofread/edit your first post
– and write your second post
Day 3 Decide on a publication schedule and schedule your first post for publication
– Follow the Writing Posts article on WordPress.org. Your post will already be written over in Google Docs. After pasting your text into the post editing window decide how much formatting is necessary. (Hint: not much it’s your first post). I also suggest reading Chris Borgan’s Getting Ahead of Myself post.
– proofread/edit your second post
– and write your third post
Day 4 Add an About Me page. First, take a moment to read what WordPress has to say about Pages. Next, read what my friend Randy has to say about The About Page.
– proofread/edit your third post
– Refer back to Day 3 and schedule your second and third posts for publication.
– and write your fourth post
Day 5 Will you need Hire Me, Public Speaking, or Contact Me pages? Take a look at the pages I have linked to and decide that if to meet your blogging goals you will need pages like these. If so refer back to what you leaned in Day 4 and add the appropriate pages.
– proofread/edit your forth post
– and write your fifth post
Day 6 Take some time to learn about the new WordPress 3.0 custom menu builder. This will allow you more control over how people see and access the pages you have created.
– proofread/edit your fifth post
– schedule your fourth and fifth posts for publication
– and write your sixth post
Day 7 Lear about WordPress plugins. Today I suggest just reading up on plugins. You will be adding several next week to improve the security and functionality of your blog.
– proofread/edit your sixth post
– and write your seventh post
Make sure to check back next Friday when I tackle Week 2: The devil is in the details.
If you are going to follow along and start or improve your blog over the next 21 days please feel free to leave a comment so we can follow your progress. I’d also appreciate comments about what works best for you or errors I may have made in the above text.
Thanks for the link love, Jim!
This is a valuable post. While some of us that live in a tech world find blogging obvious, it’s still technical and requires thought and planning. I think the key is to plan, as you have recommended, and get the technical issues out of the way so you can write!
Randy,
This post came put of having to prepare for a lab I presented yesterday about setting up a WordPress blog. Even a couple of the seasoned veterans at the conference approached me to ask about the list of plugins I use and the Themes, etc. None of us are experts, social media and community are moving way to fast for that.
Well, I’m simply delighted to be part of day 5, Jim!
Why of course it’s a wonderful example of a “Hire Me.”
…and if they start on Monday, Day 5 would be *nods* yes, TGIF day 😉
I’m tempted to write a post titled “How to start a blog (as it were in 1997)” which would probably contain a lot more steps. Or less, depending on how you look at it.
That would be a fun “retro” post. 🙂
There is a plan in my head that each of these 21 steps becomes a “chapter”
in an eBook…..we shall see.