Slides to accompany a discussion in Prof. Barbara Nixon's classes regarding the students' blog assignment. (Though the some of guidelines in here are specific to Prof. Nixon's classes, most of the information is applicable to anyone starting a new WordPress blog.)

1. Barbara B. Nixon :: Southeastern University & Florida Southern College Getting Started in WordPress

2. Blogging Do’s & No-No’s

3. Blog Do’s Write in short paragraphs Use images for visual impact Find Creative Commons-licensed images at Compfight.com Proofread. Then proofread again. Even ONE error is too many in a post Always give credit to original sources Example: For Reading Notes, link back to textbook Review Blogging Guidelines Write “enough” posts in each category Write posts that are long enough

4. Blog No-No’s Never “scrape” another writer’s content It’s plagiarism Never let reader see a URL (http://address.com) Simply hyperlink from the appropriate words Avoid tiny text, especially on a dark background Makes it hard to read Avoid changing text colors from the default Makes your blog look “My Spacey” Avoid boring or non-descriptive titles for posts “TOW #4” will mean nothing to a reader outside of this class

5. Step One: Signing Up for Your WordPress Account

6. Sign up for an account Go to WordPress.com Choose account name wisely Don’t use your student login name Choose a real name Either your name or some combination of your initials, or A phrase Avoid a random-looking combo of letters & numbers Your new blog’s address will be username.wordpress.com

7. Step Two: Setting Up

8. Go to your Dashboard

9. Settings :: General Site Title Change this to something other than the default of “User123’s Weblog” Tagline Change this to something other than “Just Another WordPressBlog” Or delete it Time Zone Choose New York for Eastern time

10. Appearance :: Themes Try out several Themes until you find one you like Preview Then Activate Be sure your Theme allows you to use Widgets Click Feature Filters, then check Widgets Recommended Themes for our class INonve Cutline Misty Look Blix Avoid Themes with dark backgrounds and tiny text

11. Appearance :: Widgets To add Widgets, click and drag to the Sidebar on right Required Widgets Categories (or Category Cloud) Search Calendar Links Recommended Widgets Recent Posts Archives

12. Create Categories From Posts, choose Categories Under Add New Category, type category name Click Add New Category Delete or rename the Uncategorized category Uncategorized = “I don’t care enough about my readers to organize my blog”

13. Categories :: Required For my PR classes, create a category for each of the following Topic of the Week [course name & number] PR Connections [course name & number] Blog Comments [course name & number] Personal (if you have any personal posts) [course name & number] Additional categories as you choose

14. Links (for your Blogroll) Blogroll = List of your favorite blogs Under Links, choose Add New Link Name = Name of the Blog (or Blog Author) Web Address = URL Target: Choose _blank to open a new window/tab (so readers don’t navigate away from you!) Click Add Link

15. Blog Stats Under Dashboard, choose Blog Stats See Graph of hits Referrers Top posts & pages Search engine terms Clicks

16. Step Three: Writing Posts & Pages

17. Post v. Page Post Newest information shows up at top of blog As information is added, older posts “sink down” Eventually, older posts will move to another place in your blog “Previous Posts”

18. Post v. Page, cont’d Page More permanent Accessible from anywhere in your blog Often shows up in header of your blog or in a sidebar

19. Posts :: Edit Post From this part of WordPress, you can see and edit all the posts on your blog Trash the default “Hello World” post

20. Posts :: Add New Post Create a title for your post Type your post in the large text box Format the post much like you would in Word Click Save Draft often Click Publish when you’re ready for the world to see your post

21. Formatting Posts :: Use Kitchen Sink

22. Using Word to Write Your Posts (Optional) Write post in Word Copy text Click Paste from Word icon NEVER paste from Word without using this icon Really ugly things will happen. Trust me.

23. Hyperlinking Highlight text you want to link Never show the address; always link from the words Choose Insert/Edit Link For Link URL, paste URL (website address) For Target, choose Open link in a new window Click Update

24. Adding an Image Only use images that you have the rights to add Use Compfight.com to find images Choose “Creative Commons Only” Choose icon for Add an Image Choose From URL tab Paste URL Paste URL again into Link Image To For Image Caption, include the name of the photo & the photographer Click Insert into Post

25. Resizing an Image Click on image in edit area Choose Edit Image Choose desired percentage Click Update NOTE: You may need to repeat this procedure several times to get image small enough

26. Adding a YouTube Video Choose icon for Add Video Choose From URL tab Paste URL of the video Click Insert Into Post

27. Adding a PowerPoint from SlideShare In SlideShare, choose the WordPress icon Copy the text under WordPress.com Hosted Blogs Paste the “shortcode” [slideshare id=…] into your post

28. Adding a PAGE Similar in almost every way to adding a Post Under Pages, choose Add New

29. Create YourAbout Me Page Lets reader know a bit about the blog author Keep it professional Include information such as Your name Photo (if desired) University affiliation Major Career goals Links to other places you can be found online (if desired)

30. Step Four: Blog Comments

31. Finding Blogs to Comment on See list of your classmates’ blogs at PublicRelationsMatters.com Visit my Diigo bookmarks for PR Blogs http://www.diigo.com/user/barbaranixon/pr_blogs_2011 Subscribe to Ragan’s PRDaily.com

32. Tracking Your Blog Comments Copy your comment BEFORE you submit it Sometimes blog authors moderate comments, so you might not see it posted for a while In WordPress, under Dashboard : My Comments, you can see SOME of the comments you have written on others’ WordPress blogs It does not always capture all of them, so don’t rely on it

33. Tracking Your Blog Comments Create ONE post with Comment # (keep a running list) Title of blog post you commented on, followed by the author’s name Hyperlink to the blog post Date of your comment Your complete comment Comment should be 50-150 words

34. Attract More Readers: Publicize via Twitter & Facebook From My Account, choose My Blogs In row with your blog information, under Publicize column, click Twitter (and Facebook, if you wish) With every post you write, a tweet will automatically publish on Twitter  helps draw in readers

35. Questions?

36. Contact Me Barbara B. Nixon, Ph.D. (ABD) Public Relations Faculty Member at Southeastern University & Florida Southern College Life Member & Past President of the International Listening Association (listen.org) E-mail: bbnixon@seniversity.edu Twitter: barbaranixon Skype: barbara.b.nixon Blogs: publicrelationsmatters.com