Do you need to add a blog post to your website?
Blogging is a great way to stay relevant and engaging with your audience.
This guide will walk you through how to do that and show you how to utilise certain features to make your blog posts the best they can be.
Don’t worry if this is all new to you.
Like any skill, it can take some time to learn and understand but this guide will make it a little easier.
We’re going to show you how to create a new post, how to add text and images, how to set a featured image, and how to complete some basic SEO settings.
This guide is made up of 4 sections to allow you to come back and quickly jump to whatever section you need to read about. The 4 sections are:
- How to create a blog post
- Add images, text, and set the featured image
- Complete the SEO
- How to save, preview, and publish your post
Ok, let’s get started!
Creating a New Post
The first thing you need to do is to log into your website’s dashboard.
To access the dashboard, go to yourdomain.com/wp-admin. Make sure you include the wp-admin part. That’s important!
For example, hellooodesign’s dashboard would be located by going to hellooodesign.com/wp-admin.
Once there, you can enter your user name and password. These were given to you when you joined us. If you can’t remember them, drop us an email and we’ll reset your password for you.
You’ll then be taken to your website’s dashboard where you can create a new blog post.
Look at the left-hand side panel. The third header down should be ‘Posts‘. Hover your cursor over the word. A new menu will appear with 4 options. The 4 options are All Posts, Add New, Categories, and Tags.
The option ‘All Posts‘ will take you to the page that displays all of your website’s current blog posts. If you don’t have any, this page will be empty.
The option ‘Add New‘ is the option we want, so go ahead and click that. Don’t worry about the other 2 options for now.
You should now be on the post editor page. This is where you’ll write your blog post.
Images, Texts, and More
The editor lets you do a lot of cool things from adding images to creating headers for your blog post.
It has a clean interface and is very user-friendly.
To start any blog post, all you need to do is start typing. Treat the editor like a word processor.
You can also click on the little black square box and add blocks yourself. This is where you can add other elements, such as lists and images.
Adding a Title
Every blog post needs a title.
A post title tells visitors the intent behind the post and what they can gain from reading it.
To add one, simply click on the ‘Add title‘ word, if it’s not already selected, and begin typing. You want your title to say what your post is about.
Try to keep it between 5 and 10 words and also aim to include a keyword. This will help with SEO.
Adding Headers
Headers break your post up into specific sections to allow for better readability.
Readers will want to find the information they are looking for fast. Headers allow them to do this.
To add a header, click the black square box and click on the ‘Heading‘ option. You can then type your header and style it accordingly.
The header should be set as an H2.
Think of headers as a hierarchy with H1 being at the top and H6 at the bottom. You shouldn’t have more than 1 H1 header on your post.
You can use the other headers (H2-H6) multiple times throughout your post to break up content.
Adding Images
Adding images to a blog post is great as it can help break up paragraphs and help readers understand what you mean.
For example, adding images to this post helps you follow along and shows you where to click.
To add an image, click the black square box and click on the ‘Image‘ option. You will then be given a few options to add an image to your post. It’s usually easier to click upload and then locate the image you want to use on your computer.
If you want to replace the image, but keep it where it is in the post, click the image and then click ‘Replace‘. You can then reupload a new image. You can also add a link to the image so you can direct visitors to another page if needed.
Setting the Featured Image
The featured image is the main image for your blog post.
It’s the one that will show on your main blog page and encourage people to click.
To set the featured image, navigate to the right-hand side and click the ‘Post‘ header in the sidebar. Select the ‘Featured image‘ header. When you click the grey box, a pop-up window will appear asking you to select an image.
When you know which image you want to use, click it and then click the blue ‘Set featured image‘ button in the bottom right corner.
You now have a featured image!
SEO: Some Basics
You don’t have to be an SEO wizard to give your post the best chance of ranking on search engines.
How well your post performs comes down to a few things including the length of your post, the quality of the content, and what keywords you’re trying to rank for.
Two other things that can help are the post meta title and description. The meta title and description are what you see on a search engine result page like Google.
The post’s meta title should be similar to the title of the post and tell searchers what the post is about.
The post’s meta description is a short summary of up to about 155 characters, which summarises the post’s content.
SEO post settings can be found at the bottom of the post editor.
How to Save, Preview, and Publish Your Post
Once your post is finished, you can choose to publish it straight away by clicking the blue ‘Publish‘ button in the top right corner.
This will make the post visible to all visitors on your website.
If you want to publish the post at a later date, you can select the ‘Save draft‘ option, which will save your post and keep it as a draft. You can then come back later and finish it.
The ‘Preview’ option lets you see what your post looks like outside of the editor. We like to read our drafts in this view before publishing as we find it less distracting.
No Time to Post?
Let us know!
We offer a blog writing and management service for businesses that are too busy to do it themselves.
We write and publish blog posts that help your business become an authority in your industry and help you reach a wider audience.
There are different plans to suit your budget so you’re able to start small if you like.
If you liked this post, please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for video guides that you can follow along with. You can also find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
