You may find the above video useful, though complete instructions for this step are below. The instructions below assume you are using Blogger; if you are using WordPress instead, create a new WordPress blog and then adjust the settings as needed (see Part Three below).

Step 1. Create a new Blogger blog. To create your new blog, go to Blogger.com, log in with your Google account (if you are not logged in already). Click the New Blog button that you see on the right-hand side of the Blogger home screen. You will then need to give your blog a title (you can change the title whenever you want), and you can choose the web address (it’s not really important what this is, but you cannot change the address later, so keep the address short and simple).

For now, choose any template. I would recommend the Simple template for now, and you can experiment with the detailed template options later.

Step 2. Create a test post. You will see a prompt to go ahead and start posting. Click on that link to “start posting” or “start blogging” to add a test post and see how that works. You can always go to Blogger.com to get to your blog dashboard, which is where you will create new posts and edit existing posts.

Step 3. Write the test post. The screen for writing a new post has a lot of different features. The key things to notice here are the following:

* Title box at top of the screen — every post needs a title!

* Compose or HTML option. Compose is what you will use most of the time, but the HTML view can be very handy.

* Labels options to the right — and labels are VERY important for blog navigation, as you will see in later assignments.

* Tx is the “remove all formatting” function which is really useful if you are cutting and pasting from somewhere else; just highlight anything that has unwanted formatting and use the Tx button to remove the formatting.

* ABC is a spellcheck feature

Step 4. Publish the test post. Type a title for your post plus a quick message in the post box, just something to test to make sure your blog is working. Try out some of the formatting like bold and italics and then highlight the text and use the Tx button to remove the formatting. (In your next assignment, you’ll learn about images and other formatting options, labels, etc.) When you are done, click Publish to publish your first post.

You will then see the post listing page. On the post listing page, you just need to HOVER over the blank space under the post title to see the options: Edit and View. You can then click on View to see your post open in a new browser tab.

After you click on view, you should see your post in a new browser tab. Take a look at the URL; the address you see shows what a typical blog post address looks like:

https://shaunsclassannouncements.blogspot.com/2018/09/first-day.html

There are three components in that address:

shaunsclassannouncements.blogspot.com is the blog homepage address

2018/09 is the year and month of the post

first-day.html is the title of the post

Because each post has its own specific address, you can link to any post at the blog, as well as linking to a blog’s homepage. The contents of the blog homepage change whenever new posts are added, but the address of the homepage is always the same.

So, now that you have a blog and a blog post, you have just one more task to complete for this assignment:

Step 5. Adjust settings. To adjust your settings, go the blog dashboard at Blogger.com, and click on Settings in the left-hand menu (that is also where you will be adjusting the blog design and layout). Here are the specific settings you should adjust now:

• Posts and comments. For “Who can comment?” choose “Users with Google Accounts” and click Save Settings to save this option. In my experience, choosing this option pretty much eliminates any spam on your blog. Since you have limited comments to Google users, you can turn off the word verification. Members of the class (who all have Google accounts) will be leaving comments at your blog, and if you turn off the word verification, that will make the commenting process easier for them. If you run into problems with spam, let me know and we can strategize about that!
• Mobile and email. Make sure you put in a “comment notification email address” that is an address you check regularly. This can be any address at all; it does not have to be your Gmail address. Use whatever email address you check most often. Don’t forget to click Save Settings to save your choice on this page.
• Language and formatting. Choose your time zone, and then don’t forget to click Save Settings one more time to save your choice on this page.

ALL DONE! Your blog is up and running, ready to go go go! Please Enter your name and your blog address by clicking on the button below and filling in the form. This is essential so that I can add you to the role of blogs and follow your work!

Ready?