How to write a post

When you begin writing content for your blog, you will do it in a text editor that has functions very similar to common word processors.  You can choose the font style and the size that your text will appear..You also can select color, bold, underline, italic and other features.

It will pay off if you take a little time to familiarize yourself with all the icon symbols at the top of your page when you begin writing your first post.  If you hover your cursor over each icon the name of that tool will appear .  From left to right, these include:

Undo, Redo, Font, Font Size, Format, Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikethrough ,Text Color, Text Background Color, Add or Remove Link, Insert Image, Insert a video, Insert Special Characters, Insert Jump Breaks, Alignment, Numbered List, Bullet List, Quote, Remove formatting, Check Spelling.

To open up this text editor from the front page or public area of your blog, click on the words "New Post" to the right of your email at the top right corner of your blog.

If you are in the Dashboard or design page of your blog, click on Posts on top of the left hand menu, then click the words New Post in the orange box to the right of your blog title.

Depending on what template background color you use on your blog, it generally looks cleanest to use all black print or all white print.  Using too many special features in a post can make it appear busy or cluttered.  However, there are times when each of these tools may be helpful to emphasize a word or sentence. Experiment and see how they work.

I cannot emphasize strongly enough the value of regularly using the spell check function for all your posts.  Even if you are a skilled speller, all of us make mistakes from time to time.  It only takes a minute to check for errors after you are done writing BEFORE you click publish.  Cleaning up mistakes every single time is one of the habits that can help you have a cleaner appearing blog that people will enjoy reading.

Let your post titles shine
Every blog post you write should have a title.  It helps if the titles are short and clear, giving the reader a good idea of what your post is going to be about.  Most blog templates include an "archive" over on the sidebar which will give a list of the most recent blog titles.  Readers can review these to see what things you have written about previously that they may not see from the front screen if they have moved further down.
   
Scheduling blog posts
The normal way for blog posts to appear after you click Publish is for the most recent post to always be at the top of the blog, moving older posts down below.   You can, however choose to schedule blog posts to move them around.

Over on the right hand side of the design page you will see the orange words Post settings.  The second item under that is Schedule. When you click this you may click "Set date and time" from the drop down menu.  When this is clicked a calendar will appear with a time setting next to the date at the top of the calendar.   By choosing what date and what time you want your post published you can have something appear at a specified time in the future or you can move it back to an earlier spot on your blog.