Underneath that are your formatting tools-bold, italics, strikethrough, links for creating a bulleted or numbered list, and then a really important one, a small symbol that looks like a piece of chain link. It will look greyed out until you highlight a piece of text, then it will appear more bold. Click it, and a box pops up to put in the HTML for the link. There’s also a broken link for undoing the link.

Next to that is a small graphic of a tree, that is your insert image link. Click that to insert a photo into your post.

Now let’s look along the right side of the page. Categories-you can name your categories anything you want. Type in the name and click add, then make sure the box next to the category name is checked. Discussion-if you want to turn off the comments, uncheck Allow Comments.

Post Password, for if you want to password-protect a very private post.

Post Slug-An interesting feature. You might have a really long title for your post, but you don’t need the whole title to be part of the permanent post link, so you can “nickname” the post. If you use more than one word, separate the words with dashes, like-this.

Post Status, for if you want to save a post as a draft or make it private.

Post Timestamp-this can be useful if you want to write a post but not have it publish right away. Just change the date and time on it.

WordPress Bookmarklet-Puts a small link on your browser toolbar, click it when you are reading a blog that you want to add to your blogroll.

Part Two: The Tabs across the Top 

I’ve already explained the Dashboard and Write tabs, the Manage tab is where you can make changes to posts, pages, uploads, and categories, and where you can import in data or export it out.

Comments is handy if you know someone left you a comment but you can’t remember which post it is on. Blogroll is where you add in all the URLs that will show up once you drag the Links widget into your sidebar.

The Presentation tab is one you should get to know right away, because it has all of your options for easy customization of your blog. The first thing you should do is pick a new theme. Why? Because the default theme is boring!

Go to the Presentation tab and you will see another row of tabs, one of them is called Themes. Your current theme will be showing, and under that is all the available themes. I recommend using one of these to start, because they have already been tested as compatible with WordPress. Switching your theme is as easy as clicking the one that you like!

The Users tab- if you write a community blog, you’ll manage the users of your blog here, also, there is a Your Profile section for your photo and personal information.

Options- Your blog’s title and tagline, your email address, and your choice for the date format.

Upgrades- Custom CSS, unlimited Users, and extra directory space, for sale.

So that’s your Dashboard!

My Account: Global Dashboard-what’s going on in your blog, what’s hot in other blogs
Tag Surfer: Subscribe to tags and see posts with those tags.
My Comments: Comments you’ve made on other WordPress.com blogs, plus the comment right before yours and the one right after.
Edit profile, Contact support, the WP.com home page, and the Log Out link

My Dashboard: Where you go to write a new post, or manage previous ones, plus a whole lot more. The only difference I can see between My Dashboard and the New Post link is that the New Post link takes you directly to the Write Post page. I always just go to My Dashboard.

Press This: One of the most confusing things I have ever seen on any blog publishing platform. On the very right side of the blue navigation bar is a white arrow pointing to the right. That is a link that takes you to another random WordPress blog. If you find a blog that has something you want to write about, click Press This, and you will be taken back to your Write Post page, with that URL already filled in. If you just click the Press This button while you are on your own page, nothing happens.

Blog Info: Again, for surfing other blogs. There is a subscribe to blog link, and buttons to report other blogs as spam or as “mature”.

You can find a lot of great information just surfing around on your navigation bar!

To make it easier for your readers to subscribe to your feed, I recommend going to Feedburner and “burning” your feed. These are the steps to take:

1. Go to www.feedburner.com
2. Right in the middle of the page it says “Start Feedburning Now. Type your feed or blog URL below.” Type in your blog’s URL and click the Next>> button.
3. On the next page, give your feed a title, usually the title of your blog, and what you want the feed address to be, again, usually the title of your blog.
4. Excellent! Now you will create your feedburner account by putting in a username, password and email.
5. Almost done! The next two pages are for your info if you checked the “I am a podcaster” box on the first page, and also for selecting whether you want the basic service or Feedburner PRO. Keep clicking Next>>, until you get to Feed Management.
6. There are a row of tabs at the top, click Publicize. Find the link to the Chicklet Chooser. This is that orange button you have probably seen on other sites, it is a link that goes to the Bloglines site to let people subscribe to your blog’s feed!
7. Once you have selected which size button you want, put the cursor in the little circle next to it and click to fill in the circle. Then scroll all way way down to the bottom of the page, and you will see a box of code. Copy the code, then open a new window, sign in to your blog, and go to your Presentation tab.
8. There is a widget marked RSS. This is NOT the widget you use for your own feed. It is for pulling in the feed from another site, say from a different blog. What you want is a text widget. Pull it up to the panel, and click the little lines on the side of the widget to open it up. Paste in your code, close the widget, and click Save Changes. There you go!

Now you are publishing a feed for your blog! Next post-getting familiar with your WordPress Admin Panel and Dashboard. So stop by again soon!

• Search: I like to put it right at the top, so someone looking for a specific keyword can find it without having to dig around.
• RSS: The URL for your blog’s feed, which I addressed in the last post.
• Recent Posts: Yes, even if you only have a few posts written, I like Recent Posts because it tells me at a glance what kind of content I can expect to find on the blog.
• Recent Comments: I find that readers are more likely to leave a comment if they see what kinds of comments have already been left. It’s like a mini-conversation in your sidebar.
• Categories: Again, a great way for readers to get an idea of what you write about. Some people make just a few categories, some make a lot, it’s up to you.
• Archives: You’d be surprised how many readers will spend time going back through your archives to see what else you have written.
• Links: Your blogroll, which you add links to using the admin panel discussed in the last post.
• Flickr: If you take digital photos, Flickr is a great site for posting and sharing them. You can display your Flickr photos by following these steps:

1. Log into your Flickr account.
2. Near the bottom of the page, you will see the RSS feed symbol. Right-click on it, and in the box that pops up, select Copy Link Location.
3. In the Presentation–>Widgets panel, drag the Flickr widget up to the panel.
4. Click on the lines inside the widget, and in the box shown, right-click, and select Paste.
There you go!

Other available widgets and what they do:

• Akismet: Akismet is the name of WordPress’ spam catcher. All WordPress blogs automatically run it, you only need this widget if you want to display how many spam comments have been caught.
• Blog Stats: Shows how many page views you have had. I recommend StatCounter or Google Analytics for more accurate information about stats.
• Box.net file sharing: Box.net is an online file storage site, and this widget allows you to browse those files. I’ve never used it.
• Calendar: Some people like having a calendar on their site, I don’t use it because my laptop has a calendar on it already. But you might want to use it!
• del.icio.us: If you use del.icio.us to bookmark pages, this widget will display the number of links you specify, or specific tags.
• Platial MapKit: Platial.com is a mapping site that lets you create maps of anything-places you’ve visited, restaurants you like, whatever. You’ll have to register at the site first before you can use this widget.
• Meebo: Meebo is web-based instant messaging, so if someone leaves you a message on Meebo, it alerts you on your blog. I think it also shows your conversations as well.
• Pages: Read this post for an explanation of the difference between a Post and a Page. You’ll want to use this widget if you create any pages.
• RSS: You could use this in place of Recent Posts to show whatever number of previously published posts you want to display, or you can publish the feed from another one of your blogs.
• Sonific Songspot: A free music player that lets you stream a song from the Sonific.com site onto your page. I personally have a strong dislike of blogs that have music playing automatically, but if you want music, this is the widget for you.
• Tag Cloud: Creates a list of the most common words you write about.
• Text Widgets: You would use one of these to put something on your sidebar that isn’t already listed,
• Top Clicks: Shows you which of your links your readers have clicked on, which is helpful if you want to know what topics most interest your readers.
• Top Posts: Which posts on your blog have had the most readers.
• Vod:Pod Videos: This widget looks interesting. You search the Vod:pod site for videos, and then embed them easily right on your blog. The site has over 148,000 videos to choose from.

So those are your widget choices,

A Page is for information that you want readers to have that is generally not going to change.  You should already have your first Page which WordPress creates for you, called “About”. I recommend using the page for your contact email address as well.

>Hi! I was just wondering… When I wrote my last blog entry, I noticed at the end, there were different buttons you could push to save it. What is the difference between “Save” and “Publish” ??

Great question! At the bottom of the Write Post box, you will see three buttons-Save and Continue Editing, Save, and Publish. These buttons are your friends when you are writing a post, and they each have a specific use.

• Save and Continue Editing- Let’s say you are in the middle of writing a post, and you have to get up to pee, or change a baby’s diaper, or answer the phone. Even though WordPress is automatically saving a draft of your post as you write, I recommend clicking the Save and Continue Editing button just to be safe. If you lose power or someone else wants to use the computer, your post is saved just where you left it, right there on the screen. Even if you have to sign out of WordPress, just sign back in, go to My Dashboard, click on Write Post, and you will see your post there as a draft. Click edit, and there is your post, ready for you to keep working on.
• Save- If your post is done, but you don’t want to to show up on your main page yet, click Save. Your whole post will be right there in your Dashboard waiting for you to Publish it.
• Publish-You’ve written your whole post, and it’s ready to go. Click Publish, and your post will appear on your main page.

One more tip- let’s say you have Published your post, and you are reading through it on your main page, and you see something you want to change. Depending on which theme you are using, you will see an “edit” button either at the top or bottom of your Published post. Click edit, and you will go back to the Write Post page. This time, you WON’T see a “Publish” button, but don’t worry! Just make your changes and click Save. Your post will be republished automatically, with your changes.
Thanks for the great question!

I’m looking for questions regarding adding things to the sidebar, or anything else you would like to do to make your blog more personal and functional.  Leave me your questions in the comments!