Getting Started with Wordpress

First things first. There is Wordpress.org (the software) and Wordpress.com (the website). While they are related, you need to know which is which.

Wordpress.org (the software) can be installed on a server, associated with a domain, and run as self-hosted software. The advantage to this is that you can install any plugin to your heart's content (choose from over 24,000 plugins). The disadvantage is that you now have to (1) find a decent web domain, (2) pay for hosting, and (3) install and run Wordpress on this domain.
Wordpress.com (the website) will host a free Wordpress blog for you. The advantages are (1) easy and (2) free. The disadvantage is that Wordpress.com only allows a limited set of plugins on their hosted blogs. Say goodbye to things like Google Analytics too.

The good news is that you can easily move all your blogging data (posts, dates, and comments) from Wordpress.com to a self-hosted site if you eventually decide that blogging is for you.

The embedded playlist below, from Robert Wimer, will walk you through nine lessons on getting started with Wordpress.

You can also go to individual tutorials here directly from this list:

Wordpress Tutorial for Beginners Part 1: Intro and Goals
Wordpress Tutorial for Beginners Part 2: The Dashboard
Wordpress Tutorial for Beginners Part 3: General Settings
Wordpress Tutorial for Beginners Part 4: General Settings (Part 2)
Wordpress Tutorial for Beginners Part 5: Appearance Settings, Menus, and Widgets
Wordpress Tutorial for Beginners Part 6: Adding Users
Wordpress Tutorial for Beginners Part 7: Installing and Managing Plugins
Wordpress Tutorial for Beginners Part 8: The Difference between Posts and Pages
Wordpress Tutorial for Beginners Part 9: Inserting Media and Managing Comments