Want to start your own blog, but don’t know where to start? You should really look into WordPress, the simplest and most powerful blogging platform available today. Powering over 50% of all blogs, and more than a few other websites, WordPress makes the task of content-management easy for anyone.
Not sure where to get started, though? You should read “Set Up Your Blog With WordPress: Your Ultimate Guide” by author James Bruce. This manual outlines everything you need to know in order to set up a blog and turn it into a real success.
We try to only outline tools we think are useful. MakeUseOf itself runs on WordPress, so you know it’s a tool we believe in. We’re sharing a few of our secrets in this manual, so it’s absolutely not one you want to miss.
This ultimate guide will teach you:
- What WordPress is, and why you should use it
- Where to find hosting for your WordPress website
- Key concepts in WordPress
- Finding the theme that’s right for you
- Blogging and editing content on your new blog
- Basic WordPress SEO tips and tricks
- Promoting your blog and finding readers
- Making money from your blog
- Backing up and recovering your WordPress site
- Optimizing and scaling your site for high traffic
Guide Published: October 2011
How To Download
Use the share buttons below to download!
Option 1: Very easy! Share this page on Facebook, Twitter, or Google Plus. You need to use the buttons above to share and your download link will be revealed right below! That would also help us spread the word. Thank you!
Option 2: Subscribe to MakeUseOf Newsletter and get unlock password to our downloads. Enter the password below to download the file. (Already subscriber? Re-enter your email in the newsletter subscription form to retrieve the password).
Option 3: Purchase the book on Amazon. You'll have to pay 99 cents, but you don't need to subscribe to or share anything. You'll also directly support the creation of these guides.
Hide 94 Comments
A lot of trouble with link. Page and download link disappears when clicked.
Wait for the PDF to actually load. It’s big, a whole 10mb.
It’s better if you download it instead of loading it on your browser.!!
Bobby,
did you work it out? The PDF takes a moment to load if you open the link in a new tab. You can also save it, i.e. download it directly from the link.
Yes, download it first. Do not open through browser.
Thanks…Downloaded and had a quick preview and its good….
Though SEO part is something which can be enhanced…a beginner might find it hard to follow…
Well, I’d love to do a beginners guide on SEO too…
@James Will look forward to it
May be something from “Basic to advance WordPress SEO guide”.
Thanks, its a great help for beginners! Though some points were minimal.
Impossible to download as the page disappears as soon as you click “download link”
Try to right-click the link and save the PDF (save link as…) to your computer. Opening the PDF in a new tab works fine for me. It takes a moment to load, though.
Ya you are right Tina, I experienced the same, great.
Thanks a lot… Lots of useful stuffs. this guide will be useful when i will switch to WordPress very soon.
At first didnt download. Bit of patience and it worked. Others downloaded first time. all great.
Give it time to download – 10Mb so it takes 1.5 minutes+ at 100Kb/s
thank you very much
Reveal link button doesn’t work, even with correct password. Not cool, can’t download. Not up to your usual quality.
Found the problem – looks like our cache provider was hosting an old copy of the javascript file. Try now.
could you try again now, should be working.
now we added some alternative download methods as well.
Aibek
It was difficult to get it to download but once I figured out the problem; it was easy to fix. I had not logged in as I thought it “kept me logged”. So once I figured out that I wasn’t logged in, I did that and then the link downloaded perfectly. A prime mistake for someone new to this site, I guess (AND HOPE)
unable to download
Helpful guide – thank you!
Wanted to pass along two errors I found – both on page 20:
“A third type of blog you may be interesting in creating is about you”
“If you page is about “feeding chicken”
thanks for heads up)
Download was easy, not sure what all the fuss is about. Good content, thanks for sharing for FREE. Not sure why people feel they deserve to critique a FREE offering by saying “not enough…” or “too light on…” or “could be enhanced”, It’s FREE people.
If you’re having trouble, right click and select “download as” rather than opening it in your browser. its a whopping 10mb, so your internets might not be able to handle that in your browser, obviously
also having trouble downloading. Keeps coming back to the same page
success finally, but think I subscribed twice – once per facebook and been a subscriber for many years. Now I’m a beginner again
Sorry to hear you’re having problems Patty. If you’re a fan of the facebook page, the downloads should all be available from there for you anyway, there is no need to use the password entry form or share this page .
I’ll try to download “Set Up Your Blog with WordPress” with the correct password I have , but the download link dissapeard .Would the Make Use Of send that topic to my email please!
It.. disappeared? I’m osrry, I can’t replicate that at all. Let me know what browser and OS you are using please, versions also.
I find what you present to be great and valuable. But I am having a problem downloading the latest WordPress guide.
Describe your problem, please?
Very useful guide. Thanks
Nothing happens when I enter the password and click the “reveal link” button. I mean – NOTHING. Not able to download.
Try clearing cahce and refreshing the page. I found a problem with the javascript in the CDN we use last night and needed to re-upload that. It works fine for me on every browser now.
UPDATE: Could not download in Internet Explorer – entering password and clicking “reveal link” button did nothing. Switched to Google’s Chrome browser – password worked fine, and I am downloading the document as I type this.
I just tested in IE and it works fine for me, using Win7 IE9. Are you using IE6 by any chance?
i get your newsletters.but unfortunately am unable to download with a forgotten pass word
IF you type youre email into the subscribe form again, it will take you to a page that says you’re already subscribed and give you the password
The other guide is quite outdated though, so will eventually be removed from the main index. That link should still work though.
It’s a bomb!
Everyone, duck! Cut the red wire someone!
Password entered (6 times) and no response to ‘reveal link’..Can someone advise? I’r really like to seer this guide. Thanks
Please turn off any javascript/ad blockers you are running, such as “noscript”, clear your browser cache and repload the page. I’ve tested this in every browser and all are working.
link is not working. nothing use
Out of school a long time, & never seemed good enuf to share my views. Now I’m ‘d man!
Very nice, I was hesitant to download WordPress, being and Office 2007 user, and not wanting to over load my system. But glad I did, ease of use and I was blogging in about 1 hour with a decent page. Thanks..
Hmm, Wordprsss is run on a web server, not your local computer.
James/Justin – nice PDF Redesign – looks good.
Just a couple of small things I don’t quite like that could make it better.
1) Font: It’s a bit too small, and lines are too long which makes it hard to read. I would suggest making it 1-2 points bigger, and/or increase the line spacing a bit so their is more of a gap between lines.
2) Make hyperlinks a different colour, so they stand out a bit more – either a darker/lighter black, are a completely different colour that looks good.
The design did look good on the eye, but it was a bit hard to read as the text didn’t grab my attention (unless I am tired)
Good stuff….if you’re having trouble viewing it, right-click the download link and click save as.
Hey thank you guys !! I am trying to improve my blog and this might help a lot !
Glad to help. Take special note of the SEO section, it WILL help improve your rank and search traffic a great deal.
It took me several tries, but eventually downloaded
Using a Firefox under Win7pro on a fast internet connection (20mb, cable)
Hi.
I can’t get this guide to print out?
tcbloke
Do you have a printer?
Can’t figure out what password they want… also, it shows up in the box when you type it out. Don’t like that.
It’s a password for newsletter subscribers. It’s the same password for all subscribers, and there’s no point in obfuscating it when typing it in, or we get hordes of people who type it wrong and say it doesnt work. Sorry if you weren’t clear on what password it is. I thought this text was as clear as could be:
Option 2: Subscribe to MakeUseOf Newsletter and get unlock password to our downloads. Enter the password below to download the file.
Are you usbscribed to the newsletter?
There is another clear option to download, and that involves sharing on your social network. Use that instead if you dont know the password.
I’ve already tried doing a blog on blogger.com and found it absolutely useless. I see no point in keeping a blog.
try WordPress. this guide will help you.
If it’s a personal blog I would recommend Tumblr.
A blog is only as good as the person writing it. What was your motivation for blogging in the first place? Do you have something to say?
so where is the document ? When I save it only saves the web page, nothing happens. This is stupid way of doing it. Get it fixed
It works, at least for me. You can either right-click the link and save the PDF or open the link in a new tab for the PDF to open in your browser.
It gives you a download link. Try using that instead of the browsers File->Save As option, because *that* will save a webpage.
I click on the link and ……………………………………….nothing. I do get an ‘Error on page.” notice at the bottom of my screen. Any way of fixing this? Because I’ve been trying to load this for a week now.
Pleaase check a few things:
1. are you using Internet Explorer 6? That will give errors. Please upgrade.
2. This page needs javascript. Please ensure you’re not running ab-blockers or no-script plugins.
Having trouble with link. Unable to download via password insertion and download button.
still not able to download?
were you able to get the guide after all?
downloading sucks,,can u make it more easier?….
it’s easy!
care to qualify that statement? how exactly does it suck? you either have the password already as a subscriber, or you share using the guide to help us grow. It’s pretty easy really.
I could download. Thinking that I know WordPress well, I’m sure that I will still have something to learn by this book. I donwloaded it but not opened in the browser. Yes, about 10MB of size.
why telll me i cna download when nothing works as you describe – !!!!!
What issue do you have specifically?
Everything is fine, and it’s the first time when I experienced everything same on a website as it was described in mail. Thanks “makeuseof” team.
thank’s for the guide.
Downloaded the PDF and the Epub version. I am having trouble with the Epub version. First off the Epub reader Add-in for Firefox has errors and adds the word :”error” at the end of the filename.. I did get the file to open in Calibre but some of the image links are broken. I have a WordPress site up and this is coming in very handy.
nice!!
I’m on mobile, I cannot view or download these files onto my transform. I’m running on an anroid 2.2 please help!
I’ve emailed you the guide. Sorry you had problems, and know we’re looking into it.
In as kind a tone as I can muster, anyone who cannot figure out how to press download and enter a clearly defined password should think twice (and one additional time) before starting a WordPress site. Also, there is medication for OCD and it will help you to realize that pointing out an author’s grammatical errors on a public forum is socially and morally reprehensible. Feel free to contact the author via a private message or email if you simply must express your grammatical superiority. There’s a fine line between helpful criticism and egomanical pleas for attention.
As for this manual, I found it informative, well executed and refreshingly easy to follow. Thanks to the author for the time and effort in writing and sharing the knowledge. It makes the world a better place when people are willing to educate others without demanding ridiculous levels of monetary compensation. Thank you so much for this invaluable manual.
+1, Cruella.
Those who experience any difficulty and automatically, instinctively arrive at the conclusion the system is at fault and, therefore, sucks must have quite a bit of trouble coping with daily life.
awesome,tutorial,it’s very useful for me. thank you so much editor and tutor
I did not save my password???? Help
Thanks in advance!
Joe
Joe,
I recommend asking a question on MakeUseOf Answers.
This PDF Guide can help me about create blog. I’m very happy.
Just downloaded “Adobe Illustrator” and “Word Press Blog”. I don’t know if they work together yet, but I’m going to give it a try. Seems many people are now going into blogs and earning from blogs. I’m just glad that there are still free resources for people like me who are thinking of going into blogs as a part time income.
Very useful information. Thank you!
Wow! What a guide! If you have any desire at all to write seriously, this might be just the ticket to start! Thank You James Bruce for a great guide!
The ePub file available for download is not recognizable by calibre.
A good and heavy one
These guides are just the best when trying to keep up to date and active in Web 2.0 and other technology tools!!
Have a few sites that i can’t seem to do anything with.. maybe following this guide will help..
Thanks again for a wonderful product that is extremely helpful! Karen