You must be a logged-in user and have set up your blog to make a post. If you have not done this yet, please read Getting Started - Setting Up Your Blog.

1) Navigate to your blog by clicking “My Blog” in the Header Navigation Menu.

2) Click on “Add Post” in the Admin menu.

3) Enter a Post Title in the text box provided.

4) Enter a URL-Friendly Name. Usually this is your title with the spaces removed. You can assign your blog a shortened name if your title is lengthy. For your convenience, you can have the URL-Friendly name automatically generated by clicking the Extract from Title button.

5) Select the Categories this blog post falls under. Assigning categories helps the viewer quickly navigate to the post content that interests them. If your Category list is empty or does not contain the appropriate Categories, you can add new Categories to the list by entering a Category in the text box and clicking the Add Category button.

Note: Selecting multiple Categories is possible by using Control+Click (PC) or Command+Click (Mac). Selected Categories will be highlighted.

Note: You can always come back and modify this list at a later time.

6) Enter a list of Tags separating each word with a comma. Tags can be keywords that are found in your post that help define the relevant content. Adding Tags will help your Tag Cloud be more effective.

7) Check the Published button when this post is ready to be made public. If this post is a draft, leave this unchecked.

8) Use the Editor Control to build your blog content. By default, the Editor is in Design mode which is a WYSISYG interface. For more specific control or customization you can edit in HTML mode.

Warning: Some experience working with HTML is needed for working in HTML mode. Breaking this code by using invalid HTML can cause your post to not render correctly.

Note: Further information on using the Editor Control can be found here [link coming soon].

9) Click the Save Post button to submit your post. You will be taken to the Home page of your blog. If the Published Checkbox was checked, you will see your newly created post in your blog.

Note: If you do not see your newly created post, chances are it remains unpublished. Navigate to the list of Unpublished Posts under the Admin menu. Select your new blog then check the Published Checkbox and click "Save Post" again.

Step by step instructions on getting your blog activated.

1) Log in to portal.

Note: Only portal members can create a blog.

2) Click on the My Blog link in the Site Navigation Bar.

Unless you already activated the blog for your account, you will see a textbox requesting a URL-friendly name for your blog.  Some blog services such as WordPress call this URL-friendly name a “Slug”. This URL-fiendly name is used as part of the URL address for your blog. 

Note: The URL-friendly name cannot have any spaces. Spaces will be replaced with a hyphen if submitted.

Example: The name “Copper Blog” (with a space) will result in the URL-friendly name “Copper-Blog” and the URL for this blog would be http://www.mycopper.net/blogs/Copper-Blog

The URL-friendly name can be changed on the following screen or any time after your blog has been created.

Warning: changing your URL-friendly name at a later time once your blog has been established may result in broken links  to your blog and will compromise any search engine rankings for your posts.

3) You should now be at the Blog Settings tab of your account profile.

Note: This can be accessed any time by selecting Profile. When you hover over your account name in the Site Navigation Bar, select the Blog Settings tab.

Default values for your blog’s details have already been filled in for you. To begin blogging right away, you can click the Save Settings button or make any needed changes and then click the Save Settings button.

The following is a description of the settings that can be modified:

4) That's it! View your blog and begin blogging.

Once your settings are saved, you can view your blog by selecting the hyperlink of your blog. This is shown after the Save Settings button or at the top of the settings fields labeled Blog: [URL-friendly name].