By AnaMaria Glavan
Minus the killer shoes, romantic escapades and annoyingly nice apartment, the beauty of being a writer in 2017 is that everyone can channel their own Carrie Bradshaw. You don’t need to have your own column in a widely circulated newspaper to be heard: you have the Internet!
Blogging makes it possible to create whatever kind of content your heart desires. The pressures of working for a magazine sometimes include writing articles that you don’t always feel passionate about, but having a site all your own means writing about what matters to you.
Look at your blog as an online portfolio for future employers because it shows your most genuine work and, perhaps more importantly, your digital skills. Building the look of your personal blog means going through several design resources like Squarespace, WordPress and Wix (Ed’s wonderful sponsor on several occasions). Here are the phrases you’ll come across when setting up your space — defined in the simplest of English. You’re welcome.
Header The number one rule of elementary school is to write your name, grade and date on any piece of paper you hand in. Your header is also the top portion of your page, which includes your blog name, menu links and widgets (keep reading).
Widgets These are the important buttons that link back to your social media accounts. In other words, a widget is the Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram icons that your blog should absolutely have. It’s best to have widgets in the header of the homepage where they are most accessible/clickable to readers.
Theme I don’t mean theme as in beauty, culture or food blog, but the design and overall aesthetic that your page will have. While some themes are free, there are more advanced versions that do come at a charge (I paid roughly $90 for mine) and are more customizable.
Domain The domain name is the link address of your blog and, unfortunately, you have to buy a customized link. (WordPress charges an annual fee of $18.) For example, instead of using the free www.lefook.wordpress.com, I bought out the www.lefook.com domain. While it may seem unnecessary, I highly recommend biting the bullet and purchasing the domain because 1) you may feel more inclined to write on a blog that you *truly* own and 2) someone else can potentially buy that domain name and then you can never have it again. Better safe than sorry.
Featured This one seems straightforward because it’s the main article(s) of your blog. But here’s a tip that took me 45,632 hours to figure out: For some WordPress themes, an article will not appear in the featured section of your blog unless you literally tag #featured in the tags section.
AnaMaria Glavan is the founder of LeFook, a blog that rants about politics, fashion and culture—in the nicest way possible. Follow the blog on Twitter and Instagram.
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