Jan 14, 2016 / Beginner

Five Leads for Self-Help with WordPress.com

Take control of finding the information you need to add features and solve problems with your blog.

You started a new blog, or you’ve taken a Blogging University course and you’re inspired to keep working on your site’s look and content. Maybe you want to keep learning at your own pace. Or you’re just not sure how to add a new feature or where to find help. Here are five leads to find the information you need to maintain your blogging momentum.

learn.wordpress.com

Pro tip: bookmark these resources so that they’re always at your fingertips.

If you’re just getting started with your new blog, you might feel a little overwhelmed and unsure of how to keep making progress. Check out learn.wordpress.com — it offers bite-sized chunks of information on configuring basic settings, getting comfortable navigating within your dashboard, picking a theme, publishing posts and pages on your site, and more. The beautiful thing about Learn is that you can work through the sections in any order you like — it’s always there when you need it.

Support Docs

Most people on WordPress.com are self-taught. They fire up a blog, and work on the look and content over time. When I get stuck, or if I’m helping a WordPresser with their site, I search Support Docs first. With a topic search, I can get a list of relevant documents to choose from. For example, want to collect posts on the same topic on a single page? Category pages will serve you well.

Forums

If you’re having a problem or you’re not sure how to do something in WordPress, chances are someone else has raised the same question on the WordPress.com Forums. Try a search term or two to see if you can find the answer you’re looking for on your own. If you get stuck or have a specific question about a theme, a widget, or even CSS customization, post it to the forum. The dedicated volunteers and WordPress.com staff who frequent the forums are super smart about WordPress.com and can answer all of your questions.

The Theme Showcase

Looking for a new theme? The Theme Showcase is a one-stop shop to browse and sort themes according to criteria you set. You can search from among free and premium themes, and sort by many different criteria including the number of columns, color, and/or by style, such as “Business,” or “Minimal.” You can preview themes before you activate them, to see how your blog will look before you make the change.

Blogging University

Looking for constructive criticism on your site between Blogging U. courses? Get feedback on your blog and return the favor at The Community Pool. The water’s great!

blogging u sealIf you want to create and maintain a blogging habit, learn more about WordPress.com, and become part of a fun, supportive community, Blogging University is the place for you. We offer several different courses (more in the works!). Some help you learn the basics, some help you build traffic and grow your blog, still others help you form habits in writing or photography. If you’re interested in learning more, keep an eye on this page — we announce all new courses and course sessions there.

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  1. I can vouch for any Blogging U course. It’s supportive, you learn the ins and outs of blogging, you get advice from WP experts & engineers, and you get to meet some cool people. Also, it’s fun which would be a dealbreaker for me if it weren’t.

    Liked by 5 people

  6. I love it Krista, Finally a layout that all thumbs friendly and very forgiving, very clean and pro … I only need head to do one thing- to go about posting a Music Video from U -Tube. and again Thank you…

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you Kindly Krista it was a wee bit here and there, but then It all came together and I want to thank you for helping me to Post the amazing first Video Concert of the Hottest French music group to pull off a flawless epic performance in France. Music artist like the Do only come together even total eclipse of the sun. I believe this group to be the ELO plus 1000 of 2015. Thank you Krista for your help, it means so much to me. I own you.

        Liked by 2 people

  9. The Blogging and Writing U courses are amazingly helpful and friendly ways to start and expand your blogging experience.
    The list of resources in this post add to the knowledge base taking WordPress courses does.
    I’ve always found the folks at Blogging and Writing U extremely kind and helpful, and the bloggers you meet through these courses are amazing folks.
    Thanks!

    Liked by 3 people

  11. A great Tip for new bloggers. This summarize almost everything you need to know when you start blogging. Thanks to wp.com also for it’s amazing platform for blogs.

    Liked by 1 person

  21. Some great tips here – I am new to blogging and feeling a little overwhelmed with the stepp learning curve, so a few `pointers in the right direction` is extremely welcome!

    Liked by 5 people

  26. I know that one can structure a search to find blogs that use the same theme as I do. Would be great if wordpress could give easy canned search links for us…

    I always find it interesting to see how other bloggers transform the same theme.

    Liked by 3 people