Posting to WordPress ~ Using Your WordPress Text Editor
Jan 02
Before we get started with our content creation series on Monday I wanted to just cover some information about posting to wordpress and using your wordpress text editor. Let’s take a look step by step at what you have available to you!
How to add a new post to your blog:
1. Log in to your site.
2. In the dashboard you’ll see the category options, choose Posts/add new.
3. This will open a text editor where you can write your post. 
Text editor ~ it does a lot of fun things so you want to be able to use them!
At the top of your editor you have the “upload/insert” area. This area allows you to upload and insert different types of media to your site. The first one is images, the next is video, music. While I don’t use music much, you might want to try it out if it would be a nice supplement on your site.
Add an image:
When you click the add image icon
You will be able to browse through the files on your computer and upload any image you have on your computer to your blog. When you find the image you want on your computer and click on it you will need to hit the upload button. Once you do that it will show up in the window.
If you want to make it a clickable link you just add the link where you want it to go.
Once you’ve got your link in the right spot you want to pick where the image is going to go in your post, and the size you want it to be.
When you’ve done those things you click the insert into post button and your image should appear!
Adding Video
It’s the same process adding video ~ however I usually just grab the embed code from youtube and put it in myself. (I’ve read with the newest version of wordpress there are some added media features like resizing your images, and easier video uploading but I haven’t upgraded yet to know).
If you want to add videos using the embed code you will need to copy the embed code from wherever you’re getting it. This is the embed code ~ not just the url. When you come back to wordpress you will have to click the “html” tab so you are working in the html area.
Once in the html tab just scroll down to where you want the video to show up and paste the code there.
The text editor buttons ~ what are all those buttons for??
- B ~ bold. Highlight the words you want bold and then click the B button.
- I ~ Italics. Highlight the words you want italicized and click the I
- ABC ~ strike out. Highlight the words you want to cross out and click the ABC button.
- bullet points ~ if you want to make a bullet point list click the bullet list button and it will automatically give you bullet points each time you hit enter. To make it stop hit enter twice or click the button again.
- numbered list ~ same thing as bullets but it will give you a numbered list.
- alignment buttons ~ the next three align your text ~ left, center and right.
- chain buttons ~ the first is to create an achor text link. You have to highlight words on the page before this will be lit so you can click it. Once you click it a pop up window will appear and ask you to put in the link you want people to go to. The next chain button will break a link if you don’t want it anymore. Just highlight the linked text and then click the unlink button and the link will go away.
- add more button ~ I don’t use this one at all ~ but it will make it so only part of your content shows up, then there’ll be a line that says read more that people can click on to see the whole post ~ there are plugins that will do this automatically that make it much easier.
- spell check ~ haven’t used this one either, but it’s spell check.
- The first one on the second row let’s you choose size of font/tag. Paragraph is your normal font, if you want to have a subheading you can pick heading 2 or heading 1. Heading 2 will be slightly larger ~ and may be a different color depending on how your theme manages that tag. Heading one will be the same as your title and look the same as well. Best to stick with heading 2 for subheads in your post.
- U ~ underline ~ highlight text and then click U to make them underlined.
- Align full ~ I never use this, it will make your pages aligned on both sides.
- Big A ~ color. You can choose to change you font color with this button. Don’t get crazy with the colors on your blog. Maybe if you want to make a big point you can do a word or two in red, but you want your posts to be as easy to read as possible and adding a bunch of red makes that difficult.
- The only other one I have ever used is the undo button ~ which is the little arrow. It is a useful button if you’ve done something you hate and you have no idea how to fix it. Hit the undo button and see if it will go back to how it was before you did what you did.
So that’s the editor buttons.
The right hand sidebar ~ finishing up your post
If you are using Zemanta (which I love) you will have it in the right sidebar. Here’s my full review of Zemanta. It will give you image options for your posts that you can insert with one click (the image credit will show up as well).
You will also want to choose tags for your posts. Those will be on the right hand side too. Just a few tags is wise. Make sure they are very relevant to the post you’ve written.
Category ~ also on the right hand side, choose a category you want your post to go into. Just FYI, if you create categories ahead of time they will not show up on your site until there is a post in them. 
That’s about it.
I like to hit the “preview” button so I can see what the post will really look like. I do a quick proofread for flagrant spelling/grammar/my mind went faster than my hands errors and then click “publish”. At this point I feel compelled to say something about obsession. Don’t obsess over your posts ~ this is not high school english class. You are not being graded. As long as you’re writing like you would talk to a friend you’ll be fine. Check for basic mistakes and publish! You don’t make any money if you don’t hit publish.
If you want to schedule your posts to go out at a later date (if you’re batch processing posts) you can click the edit button next to “publish immediately” and it will let you set a date you want the post to publish. Doing this you can write as many posts as you have time for and then have them come out one day at a time on your blog. If you do that the “publish” button will say “schedule” instead of publish, just so you know.
That’s about all there is to posting to your blog. If you have any questions please feel free to ask in the comment section. I’ll do my best to answer them. I look forward to working on creating content with you on Monday ~ take some to read the articles on content creation I posted yesterday. You will get some great ideas about content creation from them and be ready to get started!
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Hi again Jackie
I’m trying to put product image into a WP post & am following your instructions. I’ve got the image on my computer but can’t get it into the Post. Instead I just get the image title. I should mention that when I get the unload page up, it’s different to what you show – no option for sise or where it should go. I do find it strange that I click the text only option for the URL link, but am doing as you say (altho I did try the image only with no success!). Can you suggest where I’m going wrong?
Thanks, and regards … RUSSELL
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Are you making sure to hit the “add image” button at the top of the editor? You have to add the image to the post ~ then add the link to the image in the box that pops up.
You’re a member over at KISS club, if you can’t figure it out, ask over there and I’ll see what I can do.
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The font is coded into the theme. Different themes use different fonts, but it’s not particularly easy to change the font ~ unless you have one of the premium themes that makes it really easy to do that. So yeah, basically what’s you’ve got is the different header/size options. Or you can change your theme.
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Hi Jackie, in the text editor is there any way to choose a font style or point size?
I’m now chooseing Heading1 for the 1st heading
Heading 2 for the other sub headings
Heading 3 for the rest of the content as
Paragraph seems too small.
It’s hard to believe every word press blog uses the same font, must be somewhere to choose another?
Thanks a lot.
Rosie´s last blog ..Leslie Sansone Walk Away Pounds Express DVD 2 in1
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I’ve wondered for years why WP never found a way to add a font changer to the editor.
Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..Attention Commenters: VALID Email Addresses PLEASE!
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YAY congrats!! Big step. Keep it up you’re doing great.
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Thanks once again, Jackie
I’ve finally now published.
I have a link to my secondary Merchant … still waiting on the Primary Merchant.
RUSSELL
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Don’t let a missing link stop you from publishing. You can easily go back and put it in later. Get your content published.
Once you’ve pasted your embed code just click back to the “visual” tab. You won’t see the actual image of the video until you publish but you will see a yellow box where the video will be. If you click preview you will be able to see the video.
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Hi Jackie
Hope you had a good weekend.
I’ll publish my 1st Post eventually! I’ve 1 major problem in that one of my Merchants links hasn’t worked and I’m waiting on an answer from her.
And I tried to put in a YouTube video, but without success. I followed your Post’s instructions, using the embed code and working in the html area, scrolled down for position and pasted. I think what I’m missing is what to do when after the pasting. Can you advise me?
Regards RUSSELL
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You put in whatever link it is where you want to send people. If you’re sending them to an affiliate product you want to put your affiliate link in there ~ and yes, it will have your affiliate number in it. That goes in the url line.
Use target blank ~ it will open in another window so your main site stays open too.
Leave the last box empty.
I do not believe you can size the zemanta images. 1 image is usually enough in a post you don’t want to use too many ~ this is mostly about your content. You could install a plugin called photodropper ~ it will allow you to search for images and it has a size setting of small medium and large. Just install it like any other plugin.
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Hi Jackie
Thanks for the last query answer – worked fine.
But 2 more queries. I went to add links but the ‘Insert/Edit window asks a URL. Do I need to put in my Affiliate URL? What I really want to put in is my link which contains my Affiliate ID for tracking. Where does this go? And do I need to fill-in ‘Target” which says ‘Not set’, & ‘Class’ which also says ‘Not set”?
The Zemanta pics are great, but can I adjust the size? When I put them in, they’re just too big.
And can I put in more than one … one or more sort of thumbnail size … thru the text?
Hope you’re not tired of my questions yet! I’ll get there eventually!
Regards
RUSSELL
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The last button on the top line will make it show up. Here’s a picture. http://screencast.com/t/NTVhY2VjYzI
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Hi Jackie
I was about to start posting to my blog. went to Text Editor, but it only shows the 1st row of text editor buttons, the row starting with ‘Paragraphs’ isn’t there. Neither is the 5th symbol of the 5 you show longside of ‘Upload/Insert”.
Can you suggest anything I can do?
RUSSELL
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Hi Jackie
This query was contained in a comment I put elsewhere but as it wasn’t really answered I’ve moved it to here as being a more appropriate place for it.
My question may sound a bit odd, and you may have already covered it somewhere – if so I’ve missed it. For my 1st Niche Blog I’ve downloaded my Theme, complete with heading which includes myK/W. It has both left and right columns (couldn’t find one with just a right column). In these columns is an amount of copy with such things as ‘Categories’ and ‘Our Sponsors’, etc. How do I get rid of this? When I download my 1st Blog, will they just go? Do I need try to remove what’s there and replace it? If so, how?
Regards
RUSSELL
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thank you very much Jackie
If you’re using your keyword in your title it’s not necessary.
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Jackie,
what about filling in the all-in-one SEO pack? Is that necessary to fill out? Thanks.
Jolene
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Ken, I notice your name is not linked to a URL; can we see this site?
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I must be missing something cause I have tried it from there too, I’ll look again and let you know, thanks
and do it all from the non html side. The only time you need to use the html side on wordpress is really if you are inserting an embed code. otherwise the text editor will do it all for you.
Jackie
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Oh ~ I wrote a whole long response and realized I’d misunderstood you lol.
You don’t have to use tags like that ~ for p just hit enter. If you want a br just hit shift and enter together.
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My example tags did not show, they were break and paragraph etc…
Hi Jackie, I am using the front page static and I do the content for that but I am having trouble with a little formatting. I go to the html tab and I try to put in tags and tags but they do not work. I found out you can get a plugin for more flexibility (i think it is tinymce) but I tried it and still doesn’t seem to work. Any suggestions? I used to do web pages in html but with wordpress is so different.
Kinda cool, huh. A post in itself.
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Nah, but it totally worked ~ I was working on a guest post which I’ll be telling you all about shortly ~ and was having trouble getting it out ~ came to wordpress and out it sailed ~ no problem. Can’t believe I never thought of that before!!!
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Jackie – I’m the exact same way.
“hmm… maybe I should write my articles in wordpress then copy/paste them somewhere else!”
Now you’re in trouble. Now, with every blog post you write, you’ll wonder if it would be better for article marketing.
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the only problem with pointing your articles to your blog if you use articles as your content is they will hit the “same content” if they click through from your articles, and that probably won’t be best.
It depends on your blog post if you want a clickable image in it. If you are talking about a specific product in the post then would probably be fine. Remember that you are still an affiliate marketer ~ you are not trying to SELL on your blog posts, you’re trying to create interest, curiosity and a belief that clicking a link will solve the problem people have. Let the sales page do the selling.
Using a redirect is better than using the plain affiliate link ~ I’m going to show you an easy way to use redirects in your posts (that don’t involve buying domain names) on Tuesday as well.
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Once I have my blog actually up, I will repoint my EZA articles resource box links to my site.
Carole
The links in my resource box of my EZA articles are a different domain name (a .info) and point to the sales page of a digital product. Once I decided to do a blog, I got a .net domain name for the blog. I posted (draft only) one of my EZA articles to my blog and created a couple anchor text links throughout the posts, and have the links pointing to my .info domain which goes straight to the sales page (should I do this or just have it go straight to the sales page?)
Also, I have a call to action clickable product image, should I use this on my post like we would in a lens?
Thanks,
Carole
are the links your resource box pointing to your blog? If not I would use them to build links to your site instead of as content on your site. (you can go back and edit your resource box) But there’s no reason you couldn’t rewrite them a bit and use the keywords for blog posts.
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Jackie and Carey, thank you for explaining the strike out button. One is never to old to learn new things…
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Hi Jackie,
Before I started the blog I am working on with you, I had submitted 25 articles to EZA and actually made a couple of sales. My question is, can I use my articles, maybe a condensed version for my blog posts? Each article is based on one KW, but all articles are relevant to my overall blog.
Thanks,
Carole
You know Dennis I’ve tried some outside editors but there’s something about being in wordpress that clicks the “writing switch” in my brain and for some reason it’s much easier to write when I’m there. I have this same issue trying to write articles ~ hmm… maybe I should write my articles in wordpress then copy/paste them somewhere else!
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Do you prefer the built in editor over outside tools?
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Nice tutorials, very detailed. I like the way you explained all the buttons found in the wordpress. Quite basic, but it can really help to those people who don’t have any knowledge when it comes to wordpress. Personally, the best WP feature is its ability to schedule all your post. At least, you can make all your post ahead of time. If you’re writing your own post, everytime you have that write until you drop feeling, this can really be a great help for you.
Yes Carey ~ that’s another great example ~ I also use it when I have a certain number of something available to let people know how many are really left.
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Elsie,
I have used the strike through when I wanted to show a reduced price on something I am offering. Like you could put $59.99 and have that price with a line through it and then next to it have a price of $39.99
Jackie, another very informative post. Thank you again for all you do.
Carey
I don’t use it very often ~ but it can be fun if you’re being facetious ~ you can say something you really mean and then cross it out and put the more “politically correct” version of what you meant there. Or if you have a list of things you’re doing, you can cross them off as you go.
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Hi Jackie
Thanks again for this very informative post. I really found the scheduled posting option a big help when I had to go away for 3 weeks last year.
Although I have a plugin called PLRtoWordPress installed on my site, I found that it was so much better to write the posts (and add images to it), then schedule it to be published on certain days as opposed to uploading it via FTP.
I was able to go on holiday with the certainty that my posts would appear every 3rd day in the sequence I wanted them to appear, and that my site would have enough fresh content to satisfy the search engines while I was not able to physically post regularly.
On the off chance of sounding totally stupid, can you please explain the use of the “strike out” option? It seems pretty useless to leave a sentence or words in your post and then just put a line through it if you don’t want it to be in the post… why not just delete it?
I had a look at Zemanta and am going to install it after finishing this comment. I think it will help a lot with content creation.
Looking forward to the next post on Monday.
Stay well
Elsie
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