Tutorial 1: How to set up your blog

Here are some instructions on how to set up your blog: 

1. Change your blog’s title and tag line

In your Dashboard, click Settings. Change your title, tag line, and then click Save Changes. A good title reflects your blog’s theme or focus. 

2. Decide on a cool design

Go to Design and pick a theme that you like. Remember that not all themes are the same- some you can change more than others. For example, if you want to put your own picture at the top (image header), look for the words “customizable header”. Themes with customizable header images have the Custom Image Header menu option. 

To change the header image, click Custom Header Image menu link > Choose File, find an image on your computer (in your class folder, for example), and then click Upload.

After your photo is uploaded, crop your image: 

Back in your Dashboard, click Visit Site and make sure your new header image looks good. If not, go back and repeat these steps until you are happy. Tip: Collect several images from the Internet in your class folder and change your blog’s look from time to time. 

Hey, the new image looks good, don’t you think? Can you guess where this photo was taken?

3. Arrange your layout widgets

Widgets are small sections of your blog. You can do many things with them. To add a widget to your blog, just go to Design > Widgets, then click Add for any widget you want. For now, set up the following sections in this order:

• Text
• Recent Posts
• Categories
• Archives
• Blogroll
• Meta

If you grab one of the blue widgets with your mouse, you can move them up or down. 

4. Edit the Text widget 

In the Text widget on the right, click the Edit link.

In the box, type a sentence or two about what your blog is about. For example: “Welcome to my cooking blog, a place I can share about my love for making Japanese food.” Take a look at how I wrote about this blog:

After you type in your text, click Change. Now you are done! People visiting your site will know easily what it is all about.

Thanks for reading this far! If you follow these simple steps, your blog will be all set for you to begin writing in it. Don’t forget, you can always come back and change something later. Your blog will change and grow as you gain confidence in yourself. 

Have fun, and don’t forget to help each other!