Setting Up A WordPress Blog

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1 Setting Up A WordPress Blog Introduction WordPress can be installed alongside an existing website to be used solely as the 'blog' element of a website, or it can be set up as the foundation for an entire website, allowing you control over all the page content and blog content. In this tutorial we assume that you already have a website and will be adding WordPress in order to create a blog. WordPress is free, but some plugins and themes have a small price tag. Step 1. Create a MySQL database for WordPress to use. You can usually do this via the control panel provided by your web hosting company. You will need to keep a note of the database name, username and password for Step 3. Step 2. Download WordPress from unzip it on your computer and upload all of the contents of the zip to a folder on your website (ideally to a folder called 'blog'). You will need FTP access to your website in order to upload the files. Step 3. Go to and follow the on-screen set up instructions (you will need to know your database name, username and password). Tip: make sure you change the folder name in the URL to the name of the folder that WordPress has been uploaded to on your website.

2 Press 'submit' and on the next screen give your blog a name and set the administrator login details.

3 And that's it, all done! You should now be logged in to the WordPress admin area. If not, follow any further instructions on screen or look for a 'log in' button and log in to the admin area with the username and password you set in Step 3. TIP: If you don't have FTP access to your web hosting then ask your webmaster to install WordPress for you (Steps 1 & 2) and to you the database name, username and password. Then you can continue from Step 3. Step 4. Open a new browser tab and go to (or whatever folder name you uploaded WordPress to). You should see a welcome screen similar to the one below (depending on the default WordPress theme at the time you are reading this)

4 This is the 'home' page of your new blog! This page can either display blog posts or can be set to display a 'static' home page (click Appearence Customize from the WordPress admin main menu and look for the Static Front Page option). Step 5. You are now ready to install a theme for your blog. A theme is a set of ready-made templates that change the layout and look of your blog. This is where the fun really begins! You can spend literally hours searching the web for a theme to suit your existing website style. Some are free, some cost a few dollars. It's worth investing the time to find a theme that looks good and has lots of good features. When you find a theme that you like, you simply download it to your computer, unzip it and upload the contents of the zip file into your WordPress themes folder which is located at: Tip the files that you upload must be in a folder with the name of the theme, e.g. /blog/wp-content/themes/your-new-theme/ Now all you need to do is activate the new theme via the WordPress admin. In case you don't have that tab open in your browser any more, this is the URL for WordPress admin (remember to change 'blog' to whatever the name of the folder is that contains WordPress on your website). Go to Appearance Themes and you should see your newly uploaded theme is now available to be activated. Just put your mouse over the screenshot of your new theme and click the 'Activate' button.

5 Now refresh your browser tab that contains your blog ( and you will see that it looks entirely different! Your new theme has changed the look of WordPress completely! You are now ready to write and publish content for you blog. (Paul, do you want to say something like More info on writing and publishing blog posts, plus security and SEO tips is available to all Gold Coaching members?) A Few More Words About Themes Lots of themes come with their own additional configuration section which usually shows up in the Appearance section of the WordPress admin main menu. You should check to see whether your new theme has any additional configuration screens and work through them all step-by-step to make sure you have got your new theme set up correctly and are making the most of all the features it offers. And finally, it is possible to cutomize existing themes (go to Appearance Editor) or even create a new theme yourself that exactly matches the rest of your webiste, but this requires a fairly in-depth knowledge of WordPress. Your webmaster may be able to create a theme for you, or you can get one made as an optional extra with the 'Done For You' program available from PTPA. Best Wishes. Paul Gough. Paul@paulgough.com