How Do You Write Your First Blog Post in Jekyll

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What’s the First Step to Start Blogging with Jekyll?

When you use a Jekyll theme like Mediumish for the first time, everything might feel a bit too "developer-like". You see folders like _posts, strange filenames, and markdown syntax. But don’t let that scare you. Writing a blog post in Jekyll is actually very simple once you understand the steps. In this guide, we’ll walk through how to write your first post from scratch, even if you’ve never written in Markdown or edited a code file before.

What Do You Need to Begin?

You need just three things:

  • A working Jekyll site on GitHub Pages (e.g. with the Mediumish theme)

  • A text editor like VS Code, Sublime Text, or even Notepad

  • Basic understanding of file names and folders

Where Do You Write a New Blog Post?

Every blog post you write needs to go inside the _posts folder. That’s where Jekyll looks for your blog content. If it’s not in that folder, your post won’t appear on the blog.

What Should the File Be Named?

This is very important. The file must follow this exact naming pattern:

YYYY-MM-DD-your-post-title.md

For example:

2025-07-01-my-first-jekyll-post.md

This tells Jekyll the date of the post and the slug (part of the URL).

What Does the Inside of the File Look Like?

Each post file begins with something called "front matter". It's a small block of settings that Jekyll reads before displaying the post. Here’s a minimal example:

---
layout: post
title: "My First Jekyll Blog Post"
date: 2025-07-01
categories: [jekyll,beginner]
---

After this block, you write your post in Markdown. Here's a full example:

---
layout: post
title: "My First Jekyll Blog Post"
date: 2025-07-01
categories: [jekyll,beginner]
---

Welcome to my blog!

This is my very first post using **Jekyll** and I'm using the *Mediumish* theme. I'm excited to learn how static blogging works.

## What I’ve Learned So Far

- Posts go in the `_posts` folder
- They need a specific filename format
- You write in Markdown, which is easy

## What’s Next

I’ll explore how to customize the homepage and maybe try adding tags or an About page.

How Do You Format Text in Jekyll Posts?

Jekyll supports Markdown, which is a simple way to style text. You don’t need to know HTML. Here are the most common things you’ll use:

Headings

# H1
## H2
### H3

Bold and Italic

**bold**
*italic*

Lists

- item one
- item two

Links

[Link Text](https://example.com)

How Do You Preview the Post?

If you're working on your computer locally, you can run Jekyll using this command:

bundle exec jekyll serve

Then open your browser and go to http://localhost:4000. You'll see your blog, including your new post.

If you're not working locally and using GitHub only, just commit and push your changes. GitHub will rebuild your site automatically. Wait a minute or two, then visit your blog online to see the new post.

What If the Post Doesn’t Show Up?

This is one of the most common beginner problems. Here are the top things to check:

1. Did You Put the File in the Right Folder?

It must go in _posts. Not posts. Not another folder.

2. Is the Filename Correct?

You need to include the full date and use .md at the end. Example: 2025-07-01-my-title.md.

3. Did You Use Front Matter?

Every post must begin with the three-dash block, or Jekyll will ignore it.

4. Are You Using Supported Plugins?

If you tried to add a plugin or changed the config file, Jekyll might not build properly on GitHub Pages.

How Can You Organize Posts by Category?

In your front matter, you can add categories as a list. Example:

categories: [jekyll,beginner]

If your theme supports category pages (Mediumish does), it will group posts accordingly. You’ll also see links like:

/categories/jekyll/

Can You Add Images to Your Post?

Yes! The simplest way is to upload your image to your repository inside a folder like assets/img/. Then link it like this:

![Alt text](/assets/img/myphoto.jpg)

Tips for Clean Image Usage

  • Use small file sizes

  • Use hyphenated filenames (e.g. my-photo.jpg)

  • Keep images in one organized folder

What Should Your First Post Be About?

It doesn’t have to be perfect. You can introduce yourself, explain why you're trying Jekyll, or share your goals for learning static sites. The point is to get started. Once you see your words live on your site, everything becomes more exciting.

Final Advice for Your First Blog Post

Don't overthink. Jekyll blogging is meant to be simple and fast. Unlike platforms that require logins, plugins, or editors, Jekyll just needs a file and some text. You're in control, and your content lives in your GitHub repo forever.

After your first post, you'll understand the basics. Then you can begin exploring themes, layouts, navigation, tags, and more. One step at a time is all it takes.