Mutiple blogs – Primary blog

Your first blog has the same name as your username – probably a bad idea as you want your online identity (username) to be different from your blog name.

This is easily solved as you are allowed multiple blogs and can therefore create a second blog with a name of your choice.

Create a second WordPress blog

Under ‘My Account’, you choose ‘My Blogs’. Here you will find the ‘Create another blog’ command.

My blogs - primary blog

Under ‘My Blogs’ you can specifiy which blog is your primary blog by clicking on the appropiate radio button.

Blog has the wrong name!

When you create your blog for the first time it is not clear what the difference is between your username and your blog name e.g. my user name is kitchencabinet100 but my blog name is deadmenhavewhitecollars.wordpress.com.

For this reason you may find that you end up with the wrong blog name. This is easily solved   . . . just go to the left hand pane and click on the Dashboard drop-down menu. Select ‘My Blogs’. From that dialogue box, choose ‘Register Another Blog’ and give the new blog the name of your choice. The first blog (with the name you don’t want) remains dormant (or you can use it to experiment with themse, widgets and other settings).

You can have as many blogs as you want. Each has its own unique name but they can all be edited with the same user name and password.

Your list of blogs will appear on your dashboard under ‘My Dashboards’

How to set up a blog

For those of you that STILL have not started a blog, here is a most excellent guide . . . short . . . sweet . . . and to the point. This post is hosted on another blog called the South Jersey Line presented by MBG Journalism

Click here to view

Custom header of the blog South Jersey Line

How to blog with WordPress

The website http://support.wordpress.com has a huge amount of information to get you going. Below is an excellent starter guide to WordPress.

http://support.wordpress.com/getting-started/

If you prefer to listen rather than read, WordPress.tv offers help in video format (http://wordpress.tv)

Another easy form of help in text format is to be found at http://faq.wordpress.com This frequently asked section (FAQ) is a great resource.

FAQ topics organized in categories

FAQs are also organized in easy to read questions like the ones below

FAQ topics in easy to read question format

If you cannot find what you are looking for there is always the trusty old search button

Search button on faq.wordpress.com

Learning WordPress in order to blog

Blogging with WordPress.com

WordPress has a series of online tutorials that will teach you all you need to know. The address is http://wordpress.tv (no www or com). Follow the ‘How to’ and ‘Blog’ items on the menu at the top.

Many topics from easy to very complex are covered in short, easy to follow tutorials. Start with the sections called writing, publishing and blog managment.  Each section has a ‘more’ link to additional material

Wordpress tv offers how to tutorials

Custom Header

This theme allows the banner at the top, called the header, to be changed, edited or substituted.

Under ‘Appearance’ the theme tells me that the banner header should be 760 x 200 pixels in size (and then the theme will not crop it or mess up the image)

So, I’m off to my graphic designer to ask her for a banner

An example of a header that can be used to customise any theme that allows it