How to Teach Yourself WordPress Visually

1. Sign up for a blog at WordPress.com. When signing up for a free WordPress blog, you have to choose a domain name which will look like http://yournewdomainname.wordpress.com. Access your WordPress blog by adding /wp-admin.php to your website domain name.
2. Choose a user name and a password and enter an e-mail address. WordPress will use the e-mail address entered to send (the website administrator) important e-mails. After choosing a username and password, WordPress will send you a confirmation e-mail to verify your account. Click on the link in the e-mail to verify your account and you are on your way to becoming WordPress proficient.

3. Sign in to your new WordPress account with your new username and password. After signing in, you will be taken to your account 'dashboard.' The dashboard is referred to as the 'back-end' of the blog, or the part of the blog that only you as the administrator will see. The 'front-end' of the blog is what the rest of the world will see. Along the left side of the window, you'll find a long list of buttons including Posts, Media, Links, Pages Comments, Ratings, Polls, Appearance, Users, Tools, and Settings. The easiest and quickest method of teaching yourself WordPress visually is to click through each button on this list.
4. Adjust the general settings of your blog. Click on the 'Settings' button and then on the 'General' button. These settings are basic to your blog and include your time zone, desired date and time format, and other settings. When you are finished making general setting changes, click on 'Save' and then continue to work your way down the 'Settings' list -- including 'Writing,' 'Reading,' 'Discussion,' etc. -- until you have made all of the changes you'd like under the 'Settings' button.
5. Decide what you are going to cover. You can do a photoblog, a food blog, write about technology or the stock market. You can vent your frustrations about the real estate market or your local congressman. Develop a writing or blogging plan. Most bloggers and writers write about their passions. List all of your passions and decide what to focus upon.
6. Choose your blog's 'theme'---not the overall point of the blog, but what the blog looks like. The point of the blog and the theme should go together. It wouldn't make visual sense to write about serious topics and have a theme that features pink polka dots and purple banners. There are hundreds of themes to choose from. A theme can be chosen under Appearance > Themes. You can preview each theme before assigning a new theme. Themes can be changed at any time.
7. Add 'widgets' to your Wordpress blog. You add widgets under Appearance > Widgets. Widgets add features and functionality to your blog that would not be available otherwise. There are literally thousands of widgets to choose from. Again, add widgets that make sense to your blog. These may include a text widget, a calendar widget, multiple back-end widgets that help with social media exposure and widgets that help track traffic.
8. Write your first post. Write the post in a word processing program first and copy and paste it into Wordpress later after you edit and proofread through the post. When it is ready to reveal to the world, click on 'Post > Add New.' Add a title to the post and paste the body text into the body field. Format the text how you would like, click on 'Save Draft,' and click on 'Publish.' Click on 'View Post' to look at your new post. Review it and make any changes you'd like in the body field, click on 'Update,' and click on 'View Post' to see the result of the changes you made. Changes to the body of the post can be made with the 'Visual Editor' or the 'HTML Editor.' The Visual Editor will add HTML tags to the text for you. Using the HTML Editor, you can add any supported HTML tags yourself.
9. Add photo and video files to your posts. Click on the 'Add Image' or 'Add Video' button and follow the prompts to upload and customize the image or video file and its display characteristics. If adding a video file to your blog, it is better to upload the video file to YouTube and add the video link.
10. Add links to your social media accounts so each time you add a post, your social media accounts are automatically notified of the update. All of your friends and contacts will automatically be updated with your new status. Also, add the 'Blog Subscription Widget' to your blog. This will allow your readers to sign up to receive post notifications by e-mail every time you add a new post.