Intro to WordPress/Websites with WordPress Feb 2013 Update

INTRODUCTION TO WORDPRESS

Building & Creating a Website with WordPress.com

Thursday, January 17, 13

AGENDA• What is a website today?

• Domains, web hosts, servers, & hosted services

• What is WordPress?

• Get started with WordPress.com

• Creating Content

• Building a website

• Intro to WordPress.org


WHAT IS A WEBSITE?

•What does it mean today to have a “website”?

•What does that look like?

• Is a “blog” a website?

•What makes a blog a blog?


DOMAIN

• Three parts

• TLD (Top Level Domain), e.g. .com, .org, .ca, .net

• domain name e.g. ubc.ca

• subdomain e.g. www. or support.


YOU DON’T “OWN” A DOMAIN

• You register it for up to 5 years at a time

• The must always, eventually be renewed

• Recommended domain registrar : Namecheap.com


SERVERS

• Just computers with lots of memory, large hard drives, and powerful processors designed to run website, email, etc

• Just like your computer at home, but more oomph.


WEB HOSTS AND HOSTED SERVICES

• A web host is a company that provides you space on a server to house your website.

• E.g. Dreamhost, Bluehost, or HostPapa

• A hosted service is were you have an account, but no access to the server controls

• E.g. Tumblr or WordPress.com


What is WordPress?•WordPress is a web-based content management system

• Generally associated with blogs, but powers many “non blog” websites as well

• Comes in two flavors or versions:

•WordPress.com

•WordPress.org


WordPress.Com• A hosted service

• Everything is taken care of for you

• Software updates

• Preventing attacks from hackers

• Keeping everything running

• Lots of features are built in (and I mean lots)

• There are limitations

• Set number of themes (about 240 right now)

• You cannot install plugins for additional features

• You cannot edit the themes

• You can edit the theme’s style (colors, fonts) if you pay for the upgrade

• Official support is provided


WordPress.org• You download the software

• You have to have a web hosting account and domain

• You install it yourself

• You are responsible for updating it

• You can install any theme or plugin you want

• Your webhost will keep the server running, but not keep your site running if it threatens the security or stability of other sites

• Most hosts offer a “one click” install of WordPress that downloads and installs WordPress for you

• Generally, you have to keep WordPress updated yourself

• Support is by volunteers


Starting with WordPress.com


CREATING AN ACCOUNT

• Email address (which auto-maps as your username, but you can change that)

• Blog address like mycoolnewblog.wordpress.com






Let’s Take A Tour


JUST A COUPLE SETTINGS FIRST

• Site name

• Site tag line

• Timezone


CONTENT• Posts vs Pages

• Posts are connected to each other and are controlled by time

• Pages are meant to stand alone and be “timeless”

• Tags vs Categories

• Categories are big buckets

• Tags are more specific keywords

• Adding links

• Adding images

• Adding video


LET’S START CREATING CONTENT

• First step, we’re all going to use Twenty Twelve as the theme for now.

• That way we’ll all have the same features and options


POST EDITOR

• Remember, two types of content in WordPress:

• Posts

• Pages



Title here


Title here

Click to open the “Kitchen Sink”


Content goes here


Link tool


Add images


Tags


Categories


Preview


Publish






LET’S CREATE CONTENT

•Write text

• Link to something

• Insert an image

• Insert a YouTube video


LINKING• Select the text to be the link

• Try not to use “click here”

• Click the link tool

• Paste in the URL or

• Pick the existing Post or Page to link too

• Click “Add Link”


ADDING IMAGES

• Click “Add Media” button

•Drag Image(s) to it

• Click to Insert image




HOW DO I FIND IMAGES?

• You can’t just download anything you find on the Internet.

• You must follow copyright rules and laws.

• Best resource: Flickr







RULES OF USING PICTURES

•Make sure you have the right to

• Give credit and link to the source


INSERTING YOUTUBE VIDEOS• Easy as copy and paste

• Go to the video you want to use

• Click share

• Copy the link

• Paste into the editor.

•Done!






PAGE EDITOR

• Just like the Post Editor with a few exceptions


No Tags or Categories.Page templates instead


CREATING CONTENT• How do you get your content?

•What do people ask?

•What do you want people to know?

•Don’t stress, this isn’t literature

•Nothing you write is set in stone


Creating a Site


WHAT IS YOUR SITE ABOUT?

•What is your story?

•What do you need to tell?

•What is the hook?

•What do you need to tell your story


HOW DO YOU ORGANIZE YOUR SITE?

• It’s not set in stone

• Think about major topics first

• Try to keep grouping broad and fluid


BLOG, YES OR NO?

•What does it mean to have a blog mean today?

•Do you have the time and energy to keep it updated?

• In the end, does it really matter?


PICKING A THEME

• Style

• Color

• Features


STARTS WITH APPEARANCE SETTINGS

• Click Appearance

• And start browsing

• or Use the Feature Filter







TIME TO CUSTOMIZE•Menus

• Header

• Background

•Widgets

• Layout and Homepage


CHANGING THE MENU•WordPress Menus are simple and flexible

•More than one menu at a time

• “Menus” repurposed as a widget

• Simple drag and drop process

• Found under “Appearance”







HEADERS

•What makes a good header?

• Editing the image







BACKGROUNDS

• Choosing the right image

• Choosing no image at all



WIDGETS

•What they are for

• Using widgets and widget areas



WORDPRESS AND SEO• Use descriptive titles

• Use descriptive categories

• Use tags

•Write “normally”

• Use descriptive link text


UPGRADES• Go Pro/Value Bundle:

• Add a domain

• VideoPress

• Custom Design

• More space

• No-ads

• Site redirect

• Guided Transfer

• Premium Theme

• WordPress.com Business

• WordPress.com Enterprise


EXPORTING YOUR CONTENT• You own your content, not WordPress.com

• Simple option to export

• All authors or a single author

• The file format is as universally compatible with other blogging systems as it can be

• New option on WordPress.com is Site Redirect.

• Lets you move your site and not lose traffic or search engine rank


SWITCHING TO WORDPRESS.ORG

• You will need a domain and host

•While most hosts offer an easy one-click install

• Support, updates, upgrades, etc are all up to you.


INSTALLING

• Using your host’s one-click or easy install method is recommended


PLUGINS

• Choosing

• Installing


MY RECOMMENDED PLUGINS• WPtouch

• WordTwit

• WP Super Cache or W3 Super Cache

• JetPack

• WP-DBManager

• Google Analyticator

• All In One SEO Pack

• Akismet


THEMES

• Choosing

• Installing


ADVANCED WORDPRESS• Installing WordPress yourself—from scratch

• In-depth about plugins and themes

• Troubleshooting

• Maintaining the site

• Google and search engines

• Customizing without coding

• Easy Customizations with a little coding


CONTACT INFO

• [email protected]

•Website: http://www.trishussey.com

• Twitter : http://twitter.trishussey.com

• LinkedIn: http://linkedin.trishussey.com


mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

http://trishussey.com

http://trishussey.com

http://twitter.trishussey.com

http://twitter.trishussey.com

http://linkedin.trishussey.com

http://linkedin.trishussey.com

Technology

Intro to WordPress/Websites with WordPress Feb 2013 Update