Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
How to Start a Blog and Make Money Part 3 is about various words you’ll be seeing & using often now that you’re working with WordPress.
In the previous “How to start a blog and make money” posts, you learned how to get a domain name and hosting account and set them up to run your WordPress blog.
Now you have your blog and are messing around in WordPress, learning as you go.
And you soon realize that WordPress has its own…” grammar,” for want of a better term.
So let’s go over the various words you’ll be seeing & using often now that you’re working with WordPress:
“Dashboard”
This is the screen you see when logging in to the WordPress (WP) admin area.
You can return to it by clicking the topmost menu item of the left-side admin menu.
The Dashboard shows an overview of your site, such as how many posts you’ve made so far, how many comments you have, how many comments in moderation, and other bits of information.
Various plugins you use might add their information blocks here.
You can click and drag each Dashboard item around so they’re in an order that makes more sense.
You can turn different elements on and off on the dashboard by clicking the “Screen Options” tab in the top right corner of the screen; this will make an options panel slide down, and from there, you can tick various boxes to show or not show different sections.
“POST”
A “post” is a time-stamped piece of content that will show on the “blog” part of your site.
You might sometimes come across people calling a post a “blog,” as in, “I wrote a blog.”
This is incorrect: A “blog” is a collection of “posts.”
The term “blog” comes from the word “weblog” or “web-log,” which was the original name for what WordPress was, a way to create and maintain a diary/journal online.
These diaries were called weblogs, which became “blogs” for short. And their entries were called “posts” (or just “entries”).
A “post” is usually considered “dynamic” content in that it will eventually be pushed off of the blog page and into the “archives” by the newer posts that get published after it.
“PAGE”
Contrasted with posts, a “page” is a non-time stamped set of content, usually longer pieces of information. They are considered “evergreen” in that they don’t change much.
A page is “static” (instead of “dynamic” as posts are, because it stays in one place on the site).
“SIDEBAR”
Sidebars are less common these days, but they still exist.
They are usually the narrower column of content that shows next to a blog post.
Because of that placement, they were called “sideBARS.”
Sidebars also used to be called “widget areas” because they displayed “widgets;’ however, with WordPress’s evolution, “widget areas” started to be used in other places, not just along the side of posts, such as along the top, across the bottom, etc.
Those areas were/are still called “sidebars” even when not on the side.
These days, sidebars now use “blocks” just like posts/pages do, instead of “widgets,”…but you will still see references to them as “widget areas.”
“WIDGET”
Widgets were individual blocks of information displayed using a widget area, aka sidebar (see previous item).
“BLOCK/BLOCKS”
Blocks are individual pieces of content used to display the content in various ways in posts, pages, and sidebars.
A block can be a heading, paragraph, image, video, and more, and blocks can be nested, grouped, customized, etc.
They are similar to what widgets were but are much easier to use. 🙂
“GUTENBERG”
“Gutenberg” was the original name of the block-based editor; these days, people call it the “block editor,” but back when it was new, its name was “Gutenberg,”…and sometimes you will still see references to it using that name.
“CATEGORY”
A category is a way of organizing blog posts. They are usually general and broad, such as “Family,” “Food,” and the like.
You can create as many categories as you like.
“TAG”
Tags are another way to organize blog posts.
They are usually more specific topics compared to categories; if a post is under the category of “Food,” then its tags could be “cookie recipe,” “chicken soup,” and the like.
“ARCHIVES”
“Archives” is the term used for past blog posts (generally, those that have moved off the main page).
There are “Category Archives” and “Tag Archives,” “Month Archives,” and “Year Archives,”…which are precisely what you’d expect: collections of blog posts arranged by category or tag or month or year.
“THEME”
A WordPress “theme” is the look of your site: the collection of colors, fonts, layout, etc.
It’s the “outfit” your site wears, in a sense.
“MEDIA LIBRARY”
The media library is where all media items (images, video, PDF, etc.) live and are uploaded to WordPress (whether you upload them when writing posts or pages or by uploading items directly to the media library).
“PLUGINS”
Plugins are small additional programs that add functionality to your WordPress; think of plugins like apps on your phone.
“PERMALINKS”
A “permalink” is the URL of a particular post or page – the “permanent link.”
It is the URL that displays in a browser’s address bar when you are viewing that post/page.
For example, This site’s URL is https://canadianbudgetbinder.com/, but this post’s “permalink” is https://canadianbudgetbinder.com/________.
Some Tips For Working With WordPress
Now that you’re starting to get a good sense of how to get around in WordPress, here are some tips for using it:
Some WordPress Security Notes
Welcome to WordPress, where someone is always trying to hack your site. Always.
So the first & most important thing to do is to use a Very Difficult Password.
A security plugin can help, but also be sure to use a very long & difficult password.
This is such a simple thing, yet so many people DON’T do it…hence why there are bot networks out there constantly trying to break into sites – because that kind of brute force attempts sadly work often enough that they keep doing it.
So – use an intense password. 🙂
Also, never use the username “admin” – if you install a security plugin, you will see LOTS of break-in attempts using “admin” because that used to be the default username for WordPress & most people never changed it. Hackers learned.
So, if your WordPress username is “admin,” here is how to change it:
- Go to Users—>All users
- Click on “Add new” and:
- Username: Use a better username 🙂
- Email: For email, use a different email than your current login uses
- Password: It will probably show you a very long & complicated password to use…use it. 🙂 (Copy & paste & save it somewhere.)
- Role: be sure to select “Administrator”
- Copy down your new username & password.
- Click “Add new user.”
- Go to the top right corner, hover where it says, “Howdy [yourname],” and select “Log Out.”
- Log back in with your new username and password.
- Go to Users—All users
- Hover over your old “admin” username; under it, you will see “Delete.” Click that. When it asks to assign all posts to your new username, click yes, then delete.
- And voila, the username changed! 🙂
Start Your WordPress Blogging Journey
Disclosure: If you purchase through our links we are compensated at no cost to you.
So now you have some basics to help you as you start on your WordPress journey.
Sure, there is much more to learn and much you can do with a WordPress site…but don’t feel overwhelmed.
Take it one step at a time and let yourself try things, change things, and even mess things up sometimes.
Enjoy the process, and create a great blog!
If you don’t want to monetize your blog and want a platform to share your thoughts, sign up with WordPress.com.
Start your blog or website with WordPress.com and get $25 off your first purchase.
Disclosure: If you purchase through our links we are compensated at no cost to you.
