Using WordPress
It is very easy to sign up for a free blogging account with WordPress: it takes about three minutes. You fill in a few brief details to tell them who you are, click a few buttons and weyhey! you’ve got a blog.
Then you get to the Dashboard and oh dear, the questions begin. What are all those tabs about? What’s the difference between a page and a post? What’s a ping? What’s a slug? What’s a widget?
Suddenly, you begin to feel horribly alone. You can try hacking about to get your blog started but when you see the results you’re likely to feel your teeth curling 
Help. How did I get into this situation? More important, how do I get out?
Well, I’m here to help. My WordPress Tutorial will show you, step by step, how to build a WordPress blog. There are just a few things you need to know and I will take you by the hand and show you what you have to do. I will translate the jargon into plain English and if you follow my simple-to-follow instructions you will end up with a fully functioning blog that you can keep going yourself.
And then, when you actually have your blog set up, keeping it going is easy peasy. I promise.
Click here to download
July 6th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Sarah: how do you get the wordpress tutorial guide if you’ve already previously opted in? I tried to click on the links, gave my opt in information, but because I had previously opted in at an earlier date, the autoresponder replied I was already opted in, so there was no autoresponse email with the link to download. How can I receive the guide?
Thank you,
Julie
July 6th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Hi Julie,
Check your email - I’ve sent the guide again.
Sarah
July 6th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Received. Thank you for the quick response Sarah. I look forward to reading the guide and utilizing your website.
-Julie
July 10th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Hi -
I have a question about using wordpress.org that I’m not finding an answer to and am hoping you can help. Can I do the whole set up of the site before I load it up on my domain? I have a site that is currently up and I want to switch it over to a blog framework, but I want to take down the current one only once the new one is ready to pop in. Suggestions?
Thanks so much!
Rachel
July 11th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Hi Rachel,
This is not an easy thing to do. What I would suggest is that you create your WordPress blog on a subdomain of your domain. Leave your main website running while you do this.
Copy and paste your pages/posts into the blog until everything looks OK.
When you are satisfied that the blog is running how you want, copy all the blog files from the subdomain to your root directory, thus overwriting your website.
Hope this helps.
Sarah
July 20th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Thanks, Sarah!
August 1st, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Hello, I was introduced to WordPress last night and am keen to have a go! My question is the same as Rachel July 10th - I already use a domain name which I would like to continue with. Your reply “This is not an easy thing to do. What I would suggest is that you create your WordPress blog on a subdomain of your domain. Leave your main website running while you do this.” makes sense except how do I create a subdomain of my domain?!
Sorry, my skills in IT are just beyond beginers. I can call on my son to help if needed but he is away at the moment.
Thanks, Dianne
August 2nd, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Hi Dianne,
There is no ‘one size fits all’ answer to this. If you want a blog to replace a website it really depends on how much traffic you’re getting to your website, how many pages it has and how many inbound links it has from other websites. If the answer to any of these is ‘a lot’ then it’s not an easy thing to do because it will need preparation and care to keep the site going while you build a blog.
However, if the answer to most/all these questions is ‘not much’ then I would simply start over. Keep a copy of the web pages you want to preserve, set up a WordPress blog on your domain (effectively overwriting the website) and recreate the web pages as posts or pages in the new blog.
My video tutorial can help you with this!
http://www.wordpressinoneday.com
Good luck!
Sarah
August 8th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Hi Sarah!
I tried several times to download the tutorial and it froze on me. Is there another way of downloading the tutorial?
I have Windows XP Home Edition installed.
Thank You,
Ruben
August 8th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Ruben,
Check your email - I’ve sent you the document.
Sarah
August 18th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Sarah
I am trying to download your tutorial but can’t seem to get the link.
Can you please help me out.
Thanks a lot
August 19th, 2008 at 8:00 am
Manish,
Please go to http://wordpress2go.com/wordpress-tutorial/ and fill in the form at the bottom of the page. The link will be emailed to you.
Sarah