If…

• You’re tired with spending too much time on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube…

If…

• You have so many things to tell the world but feel blog is too old school

If…

• You just want to spend an hour to know something interesting…and wait for weekend’s coming…

This is the time for…

~prepared by Wei

WORKSHOP

Check out these cool sites first!!!

My Dream Website is…• What’s it about?

• Why do you want it?• Who’s your audience?• What’s that gonna look

like?

It’s not rocket science!!!

WE CAN DO IT!!!

In this workshop*…

• Wordpress ABC• Installation• Play around~• Be a WP monster!

* All the pictures are collected from Internet but I’m too lazy to add references…

Only one rule…

• If you have any question, please let everyone know!

• Forget about fancy terms, WordPress is web software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog.

• It’s FREE and PRICELESS.

Matt Mullenweg

History of WordPress

• First released May 27, 2003• when he’s 19!!!

• Developed by thousands of volunteers all over the world

• Used by over 13% of top 1,000,000 sites

• Dominant content management system

• 2005 Wordpress.com

It’s a SOFTWARE, the focus of this workshop. It’s a for-profit BLOG HOST.

Pros: Pros:

Cons: Cons:

• It’s COOL!• It’s your site, it’s your call.• Support Google Ads• Highly customizable Plug-ins & Themes (that’s the magical part!!)

• Free plan for beginners• Zero technical skills required installation, updates, maintenance, backup, they help all• Flexible VIP plan• A Wordpress community

• Limited Customization• Just blogs• xxx.wordpress.com trust me, it’s not cool

• Install, update, backup manually• Software is free. But you have to pay for domain and web host.

Ready to START?!!!

1. Buy your domain & Choose a host plan

• Domain ‘www.onionpeng.com’, it’s just a unique NAME of your site

• Price: usually $9.99/year for a TLD (some .me domain costs only $1.99/year)

• Always remember to check coupon before purchasing anything. (http://www.retailmenot.com/)

• Host Where you put all your files in the Internet

• Usually around $6/month (some sharing plan is only $3/month)

1. Buy your domain & Choose a host plan

• Host requirement– PHP version 5.2.4 or greater–MySQL version 5.0.15 or greater– Remote control supported

• Let’s face it…most of the hosting services you can find definitely support WP

1. Buy your domain & Choose a host plan

• Many services provide domain service and host plan together. You don’t need to set up any thing to ‘link’ them.

• My personal choice: WpWebhost Rookie Plan (USD 39.99/Year, domain included) not available to new users anymore

1. Buy your domain & Choose a host plan

2. Installation

• If you’re using WpWebhost or page.ly, they will install the latest version of Wordpress for you.

• If you choose HostGator, Bluehost and maybe other host service, ‘ONE-CLICK’ installation is available.

• If you just have to do it yourself, well, let’s have a quick look at the famous 5-minute installation guideline!

• A video about the 5-minute installation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq86rgU3rCU

LET’S PLAY!!!

A little tour to DASHBOARD

Now you should know…

• Post• Page• Media• And lots of basic settings

HERE COMES THE FUN PART!!!

Widgets/Sidebar

• Most themes come with widgets• Sidebar functions include

– Search– Custom Text– Links– Subscribe– Articles posted– Tag cloud– Slideshows– …

• Most widgets needs plug-in support

Themes!!!

• Themes– They make your site beautiful!

• Rich resource here: http://welovewp.com/• How to modify layout a little CSS knowledge

How to Choose a Theme

• Navigation– Page display friendly? Drop-down menu?

• Theme Options– Color change available?

• Widget Ready–Well-set sidebar?

• Source Files– Editable?

Plug-ins• Plug-ins! You can’t have them in

Wordpress.com!

• Widgets-2,087 plugins• Posts- 2,586• Admin- 1,090 • Sidebar- 1,059 • Comments- 806• Images- 723• Links- 613 

• General– WP Super Cache

• Help you speed up your site

– Google Analyticator• Track website traffic

– Disqus/Intense Debate• Interactive commenting system

– All-in-one SEO• Simple SEO tool then google can find you!

– Akismet (already built in)• Preventing spam

Plug-ins

• Web 2.0 Optimization– Add this

• Integrated Web

– TweetMeme/Like• You know…twitter!

– Facebook Likebox– Real-time tweets/facebook status (Plug-ins can help but

simple coding works as well)

• Video/Photo Optimization– WP Media Plugin– NextGen Gallery

• A better media management tool

– Photo EFX plug-ins• e.g. MonoSlideShow, lightbox

– NextGen Flash Viewer

Plug-ins

SOME TIPS

• No need to always keep your Wordpress updated– You will lose a lot of useful plug-ins

• Always Backup!– Use “BackUpWordPress”

• Define a Favicon for your site– All In One Favicon

• Enable Gravatars for visitors– Visitor’s online identity

• Set up News Feed for your readers– Feedburner

• Use “Blog Protector” if you don’t want anyone copy your content without telling you

You want Google Love you• Customize Permalinks• Tags• SEO friendly images

– have ALT and TITLE attributes defined – relevant title

• SEO Plug-ins– All-in-on SEO + Scribe Service + Google XML Sitemap– + Related Posts

• Meta description• Keyword placement

– 20% rule– Headline + first and last paragraph

• Linking strategy– External/Internal link: only link to valuable pages – Don’t put too many sites in your sidebar

• Don’t forget social media• Don’t use flash!

In the next workshop…

• Advanced skills of WP– How to customize your theme (We will learn

CSS+HTML!!!)– Earn a little money from Google Adsense– More about SEO – Web 2.0 Optimization– Multi-media optimization

• Other things you want to know!!!

• WHEN?