This step by step guide will give you the basics for getting started with a free WordPress.com blog /website.

1. Session 2: Elizabeth Taber Library
How to Start a WordPress Blog
• What makes a blog post different from
traditional writing (newspaper or magazine)
• Strategies for organizing your blog
• Stumbling blocks for bloggers
www.eileenlonergan.com

2. What makes a blog post different from
traditional writing?
• Digital Format
• Options for delivering your content
– Writing
– Video | Images
– Audio
• You don’t have an editor or deadlines, you are
self guided
• Instant feedback (via comments and social
sharing)
• Frequency
www.eileenlonergan.com

3. Organizing Your Blog
• Think of your blog as your television network. You want an overall Theme: The Golf Chanel is Golf,
Food Network is Food, Bravo is a mix of crafted reality shows about women and style programming.
• Your network needs programs. These programs (shows) are your categories: For a cooking blog
categories could be: Technique, Recipes, Tools, Stories, Shopping, Master Chefs and Parties.
• Eight categories is probably your max.
• Episodes: your blog posts. Within the category of Shopping on your cooking blog, you could cover:
How to Select an Avocado, Which Items to Buy in Bulk, Great Finds at Costco, What to Know About
Buying Fresh Lobster, What is in Season Now, etc
• Rotate your categories and rotate your method of delivery.
• If you are most comfortable with one thing, stick with it.
• Consider filming yourself in the isle of Costco looking over the avacados and showing how you pick
the best one.
• Take lots of photos – posts with images tend to be read and shared more frequently than posts
without a visual
www.eileenlonergan.com

4. Strategies for Your Blog
• Be consistent
• You need to blog on a regular basis. Once a month is not enough, daily is not
too much
• Have a plan
• Create an editorial calendar and stick with it
• Vary your delivery, content creation is not only restricted to writing articles.
• Video
• Audio (podcast)
• Blog
• Photos/Images
• info graphic
• Look at your stats
• If a post does well, or a topic is success for you, consider doing more on this
topic or with that format
• Consider partnerships (guest bloggers)
• Popular posts are How To and Behind the Scenes
• FAQ's are great blog posts - any time you get a question turn it into a blog post
• Give credit - if you are referencing another blog post or an idea or an image,
give a credit or mention. This actually feeds the conversation
• Be human
• Encourage feedback
• Be brave
www.eileenlonergan.com

5. Sticking Spots for Bloggers
Perfection +
=
www.eileenlonergan.com

6. FAQ’s
• What is the ideal length of a blog post?
Between 250 - 1000 words
Note: This is a guideline, you need to
figure out what works for you and your audience
• What is most important?
Your title! Be clever, yet make sure it relates to your
post. Also, people really like a visual, use a great
image.
www.eileenlonergan.com

7. Articles I Have Written that May Help
• The Bloggers Sophomore Slump
• My 125th blog post, what I have learned
• Guest Blogging
• Word of Mouse
www.eileenlonergan.com