Fairy Blog Mother

The beauty of WordPress is that anybody, with the appropriate username and password, can easily access their blog to make changes; this is because as the content management system (CMS) Wordress uses is designed to be very easy to use.

The initial reaction of new blog owners, on seeing the Dashboard for the first time, is usually of horror – this is a normal reaction from untechnical users. I presume the word ‘dashboard’ was derived from what you look at when you sit in the driver’s seat of a car; I would prefer to call it the ‘Main Menu’. It is the first point of call when editing or contributing a blogsite, and is actually well designed, once you get used to it (see my e-course Understanding the main dashboard).

All is needed is a quick run through of the most important elements to get an understanding of where to click, and really updating is almost self-explanatory. OK, there are some elements that need to be clarified (permalinks, categories and tags, how to upload and place a picture, etc), but once these are under your belt you really can get blogging straight away!

I use the Wordpress.org version for professional reasons (to create blogsites), as it allows me to adapt the designs to suit my clients’ requirements. Ideally the blogging page’s main purpose would be to contain posts that become additional resources to enhance and explain the business. 

Even so, it is still vital to post as consistently as possible. Most responses I hear are: “Well, what do I say?” – something I have heard many times before. I forget it’s easy for me to reel off a number of post subjects, because my brain has become accustomed that way.

The answer is to segment the main subjects of your business, a task particularly important if you want to have categories or topics in your blog (extremely useful for later reference). Once accomplished, then you need to divide each topic again into ‘manageable chunks’, which not only makes it easier to explain them in more detail, but also eliminates the daunting revulsion experienced when confronted with a blank post page. If necessary, break down these portions even further if they still contain a lot of pointers. This means you need only write a couple of paragraphs or so for each post – not such a terrible experience for you, and quick and easy for your readers!

It also prevents a long-winded and rambling post, like this one, with the main reason for writing it buried at the bottom – not a good idea.