Jan’s Group Home Support has a new blog design. It is a little darker than I would like, but after all the work to get it as far as I did, I’m going to leave it. I picked the design for the way it was set up, more than the color.
It will be awhile before I change this blog. It was very difficult. It included accidentally deleting the new design. The last save had enough I could fix it. I didn’t save it through FTP, so I only had some files copied. Bob Schmuck fixed the navigation bar and somehow I lost it. He finally figured out the part of the code giving us headaches by going through one line of code at a time! The problem was that the page links would pull up my recent posts instead of the page content. Bob said it was one of the hardest things he’s had to figure out. He’s not real familiar with Wordpress code.
I was SO happy when it was done. I kept clicking on the links just to see them work! 
It was time consuming and tiring as I tried my best to do it myself. It was way beyond my expertise! I’m so glad I have Bob.
I put some effort into regular posting on my group home support blog, and I’m back on page one for my keyword search! It has made a difference in traffic already.
I have a temporary design up because it looked like someone got into the old one and there was a list of spam like sites in the header and footer of the WP theme. None of my ads were targeted and the little income I was receiving went to zero. I took down all my ads for a few days, updated my WP version, changed my theme, and my login. There hasn’t been any trouble since. It still isn’t making money, but I know that will return now that I’m back on page one.
I’m working on changing the design of the blog. Bob Schmuck is helping, but it is hard for us to get together even on the phone to work on it with our schedules the way they are. I’m looking forward to when I can make the blog theme change for it. I’ve got one picked out for this blog also, but will work on it after I finish with the group home blog.
There is lots of support and information on how to use WordPress. It is very easy, even for beginners. From their site, you can access all kinds of information, support, and instructions. Searching the internet will also provide lots of help.
Once you have your WordPress blog set up, there are two things you can do so it looks like a Website.
- Make a static page
- Remove time stamp
Make a static page-go to the WordPress Dashboard > Options > Reading. Once there, click the static page option. This will allow the same page or post to be accessed every time the site is accessed. You will have the consistency of a website.
Remove time stamp-this one I cannot give you a step-by-step, but you complete step-by-step, but to get to where the code is, go to Dashboard > Presentations > Theme Editor. Different blogs are set up differently. I will try to find a step-by-step or see if Bob can help me out here. In case it takes a little while, you can research on your own. Most people if they go to a blog with a recent post date from months or years ago, they will go no further. With the time/date stamp removed, it won’t need constant updating.
A blog is the easiest way to get started but not everyone has the time and writing skills to keep them updated and current.