If you’ve been considering setting up a blog, but are a bit confused on what to do, you’re not alone. It’s one thing to get the blogging software installed. Now you have to learn how to use it.

I use WordPress, and I am able to have it installed on my site using cpanel and fantastico. If you don’t have access to fantastico, get another web host! Just kidding…

You can get the software from the wordpress site and install it yourself. Instructions are at the site. Just do a search.

But if you’ve never posted a blog before, or are afraid that you’ll mess something up, don’t let that stop you from learning. I realize there are a lot of things to learn. You have to select a theme, select and install plugins, decide which plugins are necessary for you site, and how to set up your ping list.

The best way to learn anything is to just go ahead and try things out. What I suggest you do is to set up two blogs on your site. One will be the one that you actually want people to visit, and the other one is you “Practice Blog”.

For example, if you set up your main blog at www.yoursite.com/blog, you could set up your practice blog at www.yoursite.com/practiceblog.

Once you do that, you can do a search on “free wordpress themes”, and you’ll find all sorts of different themes you can use. Find a few that you like and download them. You need a few so you can test them out on your practice blog. Upload the themes to your practice blog.

Now you can take a look at each one until you find one you really like. If you don’t like any of them, go back and download a few more.

Next you can get a few plugins. If you don’t know what plugins are, don’t be concerned. There is a ton of free and very helpful information out there. Do a search on wordpress plugins and you’ll see what I mean.

One thing I really appreciate is that there are several bloggers who have posted their favorite themes and plugins, with comments that will help you out.

Once you have your practice blog set up, it’s time to start experimenting. Before you do, I recommend that you make sure NOT TO PING any sites when you’re putting up test posts. At this point you’re just trying to learn how to use wordpress. The purpose of your practice blog is to test, and not to entertain others with any mistakes you might make.

By using a separate blog to learn with, you’ll be able to get started with your blogging education. Once you learn how to set up and use wordpress, you can set up the blog you intend to use to drive traffic and attract readers to your site.

Here’s a shortcut to setting up your wordpress blog, complete with themes and plugins. It’s called The Atomic Blogging System, and you can access it by clicking here now…