Installation is complete; now what? Read on for helpful information on managing your new blog!
Access WordPress from the "Scripting and Add-Ons" section of your control panel. From the WordPress page, you can access your blog by clicking on the URL, or you can view additional information by clicking on the "Manage" link.
From the "Manage" page, you can access your WordPress Dashboard, by clicking the "admin" link. To access your Dashboard, you will be prompted to enter your username and password; this is the username and password you created during step one of the WordPress installation process.
The main WordPress Dashboard page provides quick access to important information and settings.
- View the latest information on your blog, including new posts, pages, and comments.
- Edit settings, such as changing your blog theme.
- View which other blogs have linked to your site.
- Read about the latest WordPress news.
- Install the most recent plugins.
You can also access the "Write", "Manage", "Design", and "Comments" pages from the top of the Dashboard page. "Write" allows you to create a new post, page, or link; posts will appear at the top of your main blog page, and pages and links will appear to the right. "Design" allows you to change the look of your blog, including the blog theme and header color. You can manage all blog comments — Approve, Mark as Spam, Unapprove, and Delete — under the "Comments" tab. The "Manage" tab allows you to manage other aspects of your blog, including posts, pages, links, categories and more. If you'd like to manage the users of your blog, click the "Users" icon in the upper-right corner of your Dashboard.
The "Settings" link, located next to the "Users" link, allows you to change the general settings of the blog, such as the title and tagline.
If you have a question about your WordPress blog, be sure tocheck out IPOWER's helpful tutorials. For additional help with your WordPress blog or Dashboard, click the "Help" link at the top of the Dashboard, which will take you to the WordPress documentation and tutorial page; or, click the "Forums" link to visit WordPress's helpful Forums page.
Still not sure what a WordPress blog can do for you?
Consider this: search engines prefer regularly updated content on a site. By creating a blog, and keeping it up-to-date, you are helping to improve your site's search engine ranking!
Get your WordPress blog started now! And, don't forget to share your new blog with your site visitors by linking to it from your Web site.
