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Get a WordPress.com blog

If you do not wish to host your own blog, or do not have that option for one reason or another, you can still run a WordPress blog by signing up for a free account with the makers of WordPress themselves. Although a blog set up at WordPress.com will not be as customisable as one that you host elsewhere, you will not have to spend time or money setting it up, getting it working or dealing with maintenance in the future.

Get a Wordpress Account

  1. Go to the WordPress.com sign up page :
    http://www.wordpress.com/signup/ 
  2. Choose a username for yourself. Note: this does not have to be the name of your blog.

    a_wo_login
  3. Choose a password and enter it once in each of the boxes provided. Note, if the status bar underneath the password field does not say "Good" or "Strong", then you will not be able to proceed.
  4. Enter a valid email address that you can access.
  5. Read the "Terms of Service" and check the "Legal Flotsam" checkbox.
  6. Select the "Gimme a blog! (Like username.wordpress.com)" radio button
  7. Press the "Next" button. Note, if your username is taken, or your password isn't strong enough, you will need to change those before continuing.
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Choose a Domain Name

On the next page you can set the subdomain of your blog. Note: you will not be able to change this once it is set.

A subdomain is a 'child' of a regular domain. In this example, the domain name is wordpress.com, and our subdomain is "flossmanuals". Therefore, our web address, or URL, is http://flossmanuals.wordpress.com.

Domain


You can also give your blog it's title. You can change the title in the future if you need to.  You should now also set the language using the drop down menu.

And finally, press the "Signup" button.
Signup

If all goes well at this point (your subdomain will have to be unique, or you will be asked to change it) you should see saying "Your account is now active!".

Log In to Your New Blog

Once you've received your activation email, you need to log in. There are couple of ways of doing this. One is to go to the main wordpress page and fill in your username and password in the top bar of the screen, as shown below.

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 The other way is to browse to the domain you chose.

Browse to Account 

Find the Meta section in the sidebar and then click the Login link.

Then use your login details to fill in the username and password form.

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If all went well, you're logged in to your new blog then you should see what is called your 'Dashboard'. This is the control panel where you can add new content to your blog and change the settings.

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 You can think of the Dashboard as the back end of your blog, compared to the front end part which is what everyone gets to see.  Learning to understand your Dashboard, and how changes there affect your site is the key to getting the hang of using Wordpress.

Why not try opening a new tab in your Internet browser so you can see both 'Your Site', the public part of your blog, and your dashboard at the same time. This will make it easier when you are working on your blog to see the changes.

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When you have done this, click on the new tab to see the 'Front end' of your blog. It will be available at the URL in the address bar of your browser. eg. http://yourblog.wordpress.com

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 You'll get to learn more about your Dashboard and how to use it if you look at the tasks in the other chapters of this manual.