If installing software on a Web server sounds like something you’d rather avoid at all costs, WordPress.com has an alternative for you. This part takes a complete look at the hosted service offered at WordPress.com, and in this chapter, you discover how to obtain a free blog through this service. You also find out how to get your hosted blog up and running. Don’t confuse WordPress.com with the blogging software available for download at WordPress.org! The two were created and developed by the same folks, and they do have the same name; however, they are different varieties of WordPress.

Creating a WordPress.com Account

To create your WordPress.com user account, follow these steps:
1. In your browser, enter the URL http://wordpress.com.

2. On the page that appears, click the big Sign Up Now! button. You’re taken to the WordPress.com signup page at http://wordpress.com/signup.

3. In the Username text box, enter the name you want to use to log in to your blog from now until forever.

This username must be at least four characters in length with letters and numbers only. This username cannot be changed for the blog you are creating right now. In the future, you can sign up for a new WordPress.com account with a new username; you also start over with a new blog.

4. Enter a password of your choice first in the Password box and then in the Confirm box. You use this password to log in to your new WordPress.com account. Choose, and then type, a password that you will remember, but not one
that would be easy for any outside users to guess.

5. Enter your e-mail address in the Email Address box. This address is not made public on your blog; rather, it’s used for communication between you and WordPress.com. You can change this address later, in the Options section in your WordPress.com Administration panel.

6. Select the check box in the Legal Flotsam section. Selecting the Legal Flotsam box lets the WordPress.com folks know that you’ve read its terms of service.

7. Select either Gimme a Blog! or Just a Username, Please. The Gimme a Blog! option signs you up with a WordPress.com account and sets you up with a new WordPress.com blog. The Just a Username, Please option just signs you up with a new WordPress.com account, without the blog-setup part. You may want only to reserve a username
in WordPress.com for now, which is why you might choose the second option.

8. Click the Next button.

9. In the Blog Domain text box, enter what you choose as your blog domain name. Whatever you enter here becomes the URL address of your blog. It must be at least four characters (letters and numbers only), and you can’t change it later, so choose carefully! (The domain name of your blog does not have to be the same as your username, although WordPress.com already fills in this text box for you, with your username. You can choose any domain name you want; WordPress.com lets you know whether that domain name is available within its network.)

10. In the Blog Title text box, enter the name you’ve chosen for your blog. Your blog title doesn’t have to be the same as your username, and you can change it later in the Options section in your Administration panel.

11. Choose your language preference from the Language drop-down menu. Choose the primary language that you will be blogging in.

12. Select the Privacy check box if you want your blog to be public. Deselect this box if you want your blog to be private and not show up in search engines. (By default, this box is checked for you.) Some bloggers actually do not want their blogs to be indexed by search engines, amazingly enough. Like them, you may want to run a private blog for which you decide who can, and cannot, view the contents of your blog.

13. Click the Sign-Up button, and you’re done! A new page opens with a message telling you that WordPress.com has
sent you an e-mail containing a link to activate your account.

14. Check your e-mail and click the link contained within it to activate your new WordPress.com blog. A page loads with a message that your blog is now active. That page also displays your username and password. You receive another e-mail from WordPress.com that contains your username and password, as well as some useful links for navigating around WordPress.com — for example, the sign-in page, the Write Post page, and so on.