Setting the dashboard settings
This is about the second half of the dashboard (continuing on from ’settings’), allowing you to make your blog more efficient and sorts out some background activities. The first part of the dashboard details can be found in my visual e-course ‘Understanding the main dashboard’.
Click on the button to download a pdf of this page.
First, a glossary (important = read it to understand this e-course fully):
Blog = an online diary that can be adapted for business purposes.
Post = an entry, article, piece of writing or message in your blog.
Dashboard = main menu or hub of a blog which provides access to the various elements.
Wordpress.com = the recommended blog programme software provider I’m using for ‘free’ blogs.
Domain name or URL = the web address of your blog or website.
Internet Spiders = robots that search the internet looking for keywords and new material to help with SEO.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) = improving organic or natural search engine results using spiders.
Interaction = the ability to contribute or comment on the internet via blogs and forums.
Keywords (Tags) = words that are currently being searched for in search engines and are therefore attractive to internet spiders.
Categories = archived topic pages to store posts for research or retrieval purposes.
Permalink = each posts’ own specific URL created from its headline or title.
Widget = blogging programme for the sidebar.
Gravatar = your picture or logo that is used for recognition within Wordpress or throughout the internet.
Spam = unwanted comments or emails, usually of a malicious nature.
Tagline = secondary headline or title of your blog.
Continuing on from the visual e-course ‘Understanding the main dashboard’, the next element is the Settings menu, at the bottom of the left hand sidebar, which allows you to change various internal aspects of your blog. There are eight sections: General; Writing; Reading; Description; Media; Privacy; Delete Blog; OpenID; Domains.
• General – where you can change the general appearance, such as:
• title and tagline (necessary for SEO even if you choose not to show them behind your uploaded header image);
• language used;
• upload an image of your blog to be used as an gravatar across Wordpress.com;
• email for admin purposes;
• time clock, date and time appearance for posts and the calendar.
Setting up your gravatar (picture logo) to use across the Wordpress blogosphere is very easy: upload the image you want through the browse button (making sure it isn’t too big or more than 72dpi: low resolution for the web), cropped accordingly.
And now the settings have been changed and saved. Now I’ve changed the tagline to say ‘See how setting up a Wordpress blog is so easy!’, and you can change the date format to: l j F Y (day date month year).
• Writing – where you can choose the size of your posting box, encourage smilies, and make default category and linked categories for your posts.
• Reading – where you can set your post displays, on the main page and on their permalinked pages.
Here I have selected that the index page shows your blog posts, not the about or another static page, as this is an option you can choose. If you want to adapt your blog so that it opens onto a separate index page, then find out more from my visual e-course ‘Creating a front or index page’.
I’ve selected my posts to be displayed in full, not partially with a ‘more’ link. And on each permalink page I’ve selected all the options for sharing for SEO purposes.
• Discussion – this administrates how your comments are sorted and who can participate.
I’ve selected all the default article settings because I want interaction on my posts. I want my blog open to comments from my readers. It’s best to hold comments for moderation, which should be approved by the Administrator, this helps prevent any spam that filters through.
See the saved options below:
• Media Settings – sorts out the sizes of your images.
• Privacy Settings – surely you want everybody to see your blog? You could choose to have invitees only…
• Delete Blog – be aware the option to delete your blog is permanent once accomplished:
• Open ID – the username of your blog can also be used as an Open ID username, which you will find useful when you are commenting on other blogs that require Open ID, or when you are joining up to certain Twitter applications. You can add trusted sites to accept that username when you log into them.
• Add a domain – here you can create another domain name for your blog should you wish to.
• Upgrades, which you can buy credits to upgrade your blog for more space, add CSS, make your blog private, or prevent any ads from Wordpress. This is principally for the more techie-minded blogger. Here you can also send gifts of Wordpress credits to your friends, and change your blog’s domain too.
Go to http://www.designyourmarketing.co.uk/businessblogging/make-a-blog/ if you want to know more about my other blogging visual e-courses, written to enable you to complete the remainder of your blog. If you have any questions, click on the fairy blog mother logo and email it to me.
© Alice Elliott 2009
