Where exactly will this article turn up?

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.

Ready to delete this post and add your own? You can do so from your blog’s Dashboard or when you’re logged into your live site.

How to delete a post

Go to Manage to open your Dashboard and click on the 3 dot icon ( …), then click Delete Post. You can also head to Settings > Manage Blog and delete any post from there.

Now you are ready to create your own blog post! Click Create New Post to start crafting your own blog content.

Tip:

Want to help visitors explore more content? Create categories. When you write a post, you can add it to up to 3 categories. These categories appear in your blog’s navigation menu, so choose categories that cover the main topics of your blog, e.g., Food, Fashion, Travel, etc.

Happy blogging!

There’s so much you can do within your blog to make it look stunning. Get started now!