learn wordpress now – how to blog!

Blogging software, especially WordPress, is as easy as WYSIWYG but bloggers do still run into technical problems that can hinder the development of their blog.

This can be frustrating and discouraging. If you’re relatively new to the game you can quickly find yourself defeated by quite trivial problems and sinking into despair.

But, if you’ve hit the girders, the first thing to do is to diagnose the problem.  Often people jump to conclusions when something goes wrong and they go stomping off in the wrong direction. This then makes the situation even worse. What you need to do, as soon as the problem manifests itself, is step back and look calmly and clearly at what the problem really is.

• Is the problem because you don’t know what you’re doing? Actually, most problems originate here. OK, OK, we were all learners once but one of the early lessons you need to learn is that you never really stop learning! If something you are trying to do seems impossibly complex then go back to your tutorial or your notes and go over the material again, slowly, step by step and try to figure out what’s going wrong. As you are doing this make a point of trying to remember and understand what you are doing and identifying the exact point at which the problem arises. And when you know precisely what the problem is, you’re only one small step away from the solution.
• Does the problem originate with a third party, eg. the author of the WordPress theme you’re using? Or maybe it’s a glitch at your hosting company? The only way to find out is to ask them. Chances are you’re not the first person to have encountered the problem and the answer will be already be there.
• Or are you trying to do something the hard way when there’s a simple solution that you never knew about? One of the problems I see, again and again, is that new bloggers try to do everything at once and they just pile up problems for themselves. Remember the old KISS rule:
  

  ‘Keep It Simple, Stupid’…

  • Don’t try to tweak the WordPress code – it’s probably designed like that for a good reason.
  • A simple design is easier to get right early in the process – you can evolve into complex designs when you’ve got the basics right.
  • Don’t try to pile in plugins unless you know you need them.
  • etc, etc…

And, finally, don’t forget that there are thousands (millions?) of people out there who will happily and freely help you, if you ask them.  If you can’t figure it out for yourself, ask.

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