Writing your First Blog

  1. Once Live Writer is open you need to place your blog post title in the following area

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  2. It is important to add pictures to blog postings because they draw the user to the content.  As a best practice, place the photo at the top of the content post.  Click on the "Insert" and the "Picture" from the menu to add a photo.

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  3. The following menu will appear for you to select an image from your computer or somewhere from the Internet.  As a starter, find a simple image from your personal computer or download an internet picture to your desktop and retrieve it. 
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  4. Once the image is inserted we need to make a couple of modification to the size and format.  Click on the image and then look to the left side of the screen at the "Image Properties" tab.  Select "Photopaper" as the border effect.

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  5. Next, we need to change the image properties so users can't click to it.  Set the "Link to" property to "None"
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  6. Lastly, we need to resize the image.  Click on the "Advanced" tab of the Image Properties.  As a general rule, all image heights should equal exactly 300 pixels.  Enter "300" on the height (making sure the "Lock Ratio" is checked and hit the enter button on your keyboard to apply the changes.

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  7. It can be tedious to go through this process with every image you uploaded, so Microsoft was smart enough to enable you to save your settings.  Click on "Save settings as a default" so new images will be uploaded with the proper dimension, link properties and border effect.
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  8. Now you are ready to write the content of your blog.  Enter all content below the image you just added.
  9. Once your content is complete you need to add a few more details before publishing.  Take a look at the following screen
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    Click on the double arrow on the lower right part of the screen.  This will open up the blog post properties.  Be sure to select the appropriate categories and keywords (also referred to as tags).  Keywords should be separated by commas.
  10. Now you are ready to post.  It is a good practice to post a draft version of the web log so you can see how everything looks before it goes live.  Click on the "Save Draft" button at the top of the screen and click "Post Draft to Weblog."
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  11. You can know go to RoadfoodBlogs.com to see your post.  Only editors(yourself) can view these draft posts, so you will be unable to see the post you created if you aren't logged in.  If necessary, changes can be made in Live Writer and re-posted as a draft until you are satisfied.
  12. Once everything looks perfect, notify Stephen (or the head blog editor) so the post can be approved and published.  Once the team feels completely comfortable posting we can bypass the approval process and publish directly from Live Writer, but please don't do this until instructed.
  13. Congratulations, you have completed your first blog post.  It is much easier the second time!