Getting started
Remember when you learned to drive? All those instructions to take on board, procedures to follow… Now you don’t think twice. Managing your GiteWise WordPress blog is the same.
Expect to find yourself on a steep learning curve to begin with. But rest assured, you’ll soon get the hang of it . And, just as you took things steadily with those L plates up, don’t get too ambitious until you’re comfortable in the driving seat.
Let’s begin with the basics
You can post without an image, but I don’t recommend you do. So every post will have these three things: image, headline, main text.
Image – Good pictures can make your blog zing. Use your imagination, use your own photographs or check out online services such as Flickr or Fotolia. The size and format you need will depend on your website design. More on that later.
Headline – Make your headline informative or engaging, so visitors can see at a glance if the content is what they’re looking for or intriguing enough to want to find out more. Almost always, a headline with a keyword works harder than one with a clever turn of phrase.
Main text – This is your article or story. If you’re new to writing, the best advice I can give you is to write as if you were sending an email to all of your friends at once. A blog post can be about anything you want, but if you want people to keep reading, you need to make it worth their while. That means giving them something they don’t already have – news, insights, updates, observations, comments… anything that informs, entertains, helps, benefits, surprises or educates the reader in some way.
To sum up – Your image grabs attention and sets the scene, your headline promises something, your main text delivers.
Get your words and pictures ready before you log in
You can write your post straight into WordPress, but I recommend you don’t. Lose your internet connection and you may lose your work. So, best practice is to prepare your text and images in advance.
You’re then ready for the next step Creating your blog post.
