WordPress for Business Owners

WordPressNot Just For Blogs Anymore:

Build Better Business Websites - Slides

By Nick Armstrong -- IAmNickArmstrong.com -- @ImNickArmstrong

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

http://www.iamnickarmstrong.com







http://www.iamnickarmstrong.com/

















































































































































































Hi - I’m Nick!

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @ImNickArmstrong

Website: IAmNickArmstrong.com

Ask Questions

2 web design awards in state-wide events

4 years of WordPress experience

13 years web design experience (I’m 25)


mailto:[email protected]


http://www.IAmNickArmstrong.com


What We’ll Cover1. WordPress 101: Blogs, Business, + Beyond

a. About WordPressb. Installationc. The Dashboard and Controlsd. Blog or Website (or both!)

2. Look and Feela. Themesb. Widgetsc. Menusd. PHP, CSS, and XHTMLe. Tools to Design

3. Managing Contenta. The Two Types of Contentb. Publishing Methodc. Images and other media

4. Managing Usersa. Handling User Accountsb. Managing Updatesc. Comments and Links

5. Connecting to the Worlda. Pluginsb. 3rd Party Tools

Trial and error are vital to learning

WordPress. Be OK with failing a few

times, but try not to do it li

ve.

Always use a test server before you

show your customers!

A Note From Nick


Spot a WordPress Site


Spot a WordPress Site


How it all works...Your domain is like your Street Address. It describes a place to go.

Your hosting is like your House. It’s a place for things to be put.

WordPress is the shelves/walls/tables/etc, a place to put stuff on.

The theme is the paint on the walls, decor, etc.

Your content is the stuff on the shelves/walls, etc.


.ORG vs .COM.Org

Self-hosted (you buy hosting)

Self-promoted (no built-in community)

Highly customizable (custom themes, custom plugins)

.Com

WordPress.com-hosted (you can pay for add-ons)

Community-driven (built-in community)

Not so customizable (no custom themes -- only custom css, no custom plugins)


WordPress: SEO Secret Sauce

Pretty URLs

Pretty Code (XHTML Valid)

Content Structure

Plugins


WordPress: Simple CPanel Install

*Assuming your domain is already pointed, to get to CPanel just visit http://www.yourdomain.com/cpanel in your browser. Your webhost may not use cpanel.


http://www.yourdomain.com/cpanel

http://www.yourdomain.com/cpanel

WordPress: Simple CPanel Install

Install in a folder or in the rootInstall in a sub-domain

Admin Username - Don’t Use Admin.Really.


WordPress Basics

The Dashboard

Hub of all action

Reached by going to yourdomain.com/wp-admin/


Google Analytics

Drafts

Recent Comments

Add new blog post

Add new static page

Plugin update available

The Wordpress Menu


Basic Settings

Blog Title, Tagline, WordPress address, and Blog address all affect SEO. Settings -> General Settings

Static pages and archive width.

Settings -> Reading Settings

Use this option to change whether the blog is the home page or if a

static page is the home page.

How many blog posts appear on the blog page before the

archive starts.


Wait, No Blog?Remove the blog entirely or just move the blog to somewhere besides the front page.

Here are the steps:

1 - Create two pages. One called “Home” and one called “Blog” (or whatever you want them to be named).

2 - Go into Settings -> Reading and set “Home” as the Front Page. Set “Blog” as the Posts Page.

3 - ALWAYS leave the *Page* called “Blog” blank. It’s just a container now - not where you write posts. (You still write posts under the “New Post” menu option).


Blog TerminologyBlog vs blog post - Be very careful. Your “Blog” is your website. A “blog” or “blog post” is an individual article on that website.

Tag - Key words or phrases associated with this particular post. Pick 3-5.

Category - Think of these as folders to organize the types of posts you often write about. For example, if you’re a vet, and you wrote about dogs, you’d put the post into the Dogs category (as opposed to the Cats or Birds category). A post can belong to more than one category.

Trackback/Pingback - A link to your Blog from another site, which creates a reciprocal link in the comments section. You can delete these like comments (if, for example, the trackback was spam).


Look and Feel


Let’s Check Out Some Themes and Customize

Them


You probably don’t want to hear this, but...

The -best- way to make sure your site looks and feels like your brand is to have a custom theme designed for you.

For moderately complex designs, expect to spend between $2,500 to $10,000 (depending on your local economy)


Silly question, but...How do I get rid of all that junk in the sidebar?

Click here or here


Widgets

This is where all that “extra junk” in your theme comes from.

Widgets directly relate to...

...what your visitors see.


...Widget Be GoneClick here

1

2

Before

After3


...Widget Come BackTo add a widget to

the sidebar, just click and drag it to the sidebar until a dashed box appears, then drop it there.

You can rearrange widgets the same

way.


Managing Content


Posts vs PagesPosts are dynamic content that are frequently updated by you.

Pages are for static content that doesn’t change very often.

Think “Today’s News” (post) vs “About Us” (page)

A blog page (created automatically for you, unless you customize) is a special kind of page that shows posts. Newer posts stack on top and push older posts down (into the archive).


Add a New PostOn the WordPress Menu, click on “Add New” under the Posts menu.

Note that this is a collapsable/expandable menu.

Edit brings up a list of existing posts and drafts.

Post Tags shows you all the “tags” you’ve used.

Categories shows you all the “categories” you’ve used and allows you to edit them.

Collapse the menu


Minimal Outlines

WordPress recently minimized what they show on each page. Here’s how to fix it.


Enable/Disable comments and trackbacks

Don’t worry about this.

Don’t worry about this.

Excerpts are helpful descriptors of the blog post - I use the single paragraph that best exemplifies the post.

TitleAdd a picture

What you see is what you get view vs HTML view

Add 3-5 keywords or

phrases

Select or create appropriate categories

Post body - write your content here. 300-500 words is the usual guideline,

but write for your audience.

Publish or Update (save)


More Post OptionsYou can create

Category hierarchies. For example, if you

talk about Dogs, you can create a Dogs

parent category, and Large Breed and

Small Breed child categories under Dogs.

Add as Parent or child of ...

Publish now vs future

Draft/Review/Published

Preview without publishing

Public - visible to anyonePassword - public, with password

Private - must be logged in


Save without making public


Adding/Editing Images

Crop = cut

Scale = resize

Title and Alt text can be the same

Aligns with text

Add a link here

Rotate/center


New Link Options

You can easily link to internal content now (via a

search box or recent posts list)


PagesExactly the same as posts, but:

No Tags

No Categories

No Excerpt

Pages can be children of other pages

Pages can have templates (advanced)


Title

Page body text

Enable/disable comments and trackbacks

Don’t worry about these

Don’t worry about these

Same as posts

Select a parent for this page

Order for menu purposes



Delete page

Page and Post Management

Preview page

New page

Edit tags, category, title - not content

Edit page content


Blogging Best PracticesSEO isn’t magic.

SEO (search engine optimization) happens when you put your ducks in a row.

Focused posts, with well-chosen, appropriate keywords, a well-chosen, keyworded title, and a well-chosen category go a long way to improving your rankings.

Plan - then write!

Your blog should have a definite niche.

Our Vet example continued - know what topics you’re likely to be blogging about and create categories and structure beforehand.

It’s okay if this structure changes over time (it will!)


Content Map

Categories -> Longest Lasting Themes

Sub-Categories -> Smaller Themes

Tags -> Keywords, Minor Themes

Pages -> Static?

Authors -> Oh boy. “Blog Groupies”


Customizing Menus

Important!


Customizing Menus

1

23


Customizing Menus

12

3

Mouseover textLink text

Add a link to a page outside

your site

Remove this link

Add a link toa category listing

from your blog


Customizing Menus

Finally, select your new menu from the drop-down box and

click “save”


Managing Users


Users, Subscribers, Etc.Username is the default “display name” - you can change this to the First Name, Last Name, Nickname or combination.

Certain themes link your website/bio info.

Roles:- Subscriber - can access “Private” areas.- Contributor - can write posts but not publish them.- Author - can write posts AND publish them.- Editor - can edit others posts.- Administrator - can edit site.


Best Practices for UsersDo not give a user more permission than they need.

The fewer admin accounts, the better.

STRONG PASSWORDS.- 1 letter- 1 number- no whole words- 1 symbol


Comment Moderation?“Lefties” say: Let everyone comment.

“Righties” say: Hell no. Sign up first.

Users say: Why the hell are you making me jump through hoops?


The “Best” Answer:

Disqus (no site-specific login)

Akismet (strong spam filtering)

Common Sense

Apologize (Actually, say “Sorry”)


Connecting to the World


Pretty URLsThis prevents your listing in search engines before you’re ready.

These settings control your “pretty” URLs - and improve

SEO on everything but Numeric and Default.

If you have a lot of pages and posts, starting with a number (like year) is vital.


PluginsAdd

Update

Click here

Then here

Click here

Search here

Then... (next slide)


You’ve Got Plugins

RatingMouse-over to see

number of ratings.

Click to install

Compatibility

Last Update


How To Pick a Great Plugin

Highest Stars/Most Ratings

Best Features

Up To Date (Works with your version of WordPress - or at least the “family”. For example, 2.8.x is a family, 2.7.x is a family...)


Plug-Ins (Part One)Feedburner - Feedburner.com

Track your RSS stats

Free account and Plugin required

Google Analytics

Track your Site stats

Free account required, Plugin is useful

Google XML Sitemaps

Creates an XML Sitemap of your website

Notifies Google, Ask, Bing, and Yahoo when you update


Plug-Ins (Part Two)Disqus (Official)

Users log-in and comment to your site w/ a social media profile

Easy comment moderation

All-In-One SEO or Platinum SEO

Keywords and Metatags for individual pages, posts, etc.

Highly customizable

Sociable // TweetThis // whatever

Adds social media icons to your site for easy sharing


Plug-Ins (Part Three)Widget Logic

Allows you to customize exactly which pages a widget appears on

ExecPHP

Allows you to put PHP code into your pages and posts

PHPCode Widget

Allows you to execute PHP code in your widget areas

Login Lockdown

Prevents most break-in attempts to your site


Common Add-OnsYouTube/Flickr slideshows

Now able to just throw the URL in a post and WordPress does the heavy lifting for you.

Feedburner - Feedburner.com

Track your RSS stats

Free account and Plugin required

Google Analytics

Track your Site stats

Free account required, Plugin is useful


URL Shorteners

I use http://bit.ly because I like real-time stats; there are other URL shorteners that include good stats as well.

HootSuite’s ow.ly links and Google’s goo.gl links are just two more.


http://bit.ly

http://bit.ly

JavaScript Effects

jQuery (javascript) is easy to add.

http://docs.jquery.com/UI/Accordion

Depends on theme, but code goes in functions.php




Let’s Do Some Quick Modifications


Best Practices

Do not search for the “cheapest” solution.

Buy hosting, domain, and services FROM ONE PLACE.

Prepare documents with all your log-in and account information.

Search for coupons before purchasing.


Finally

Do not feel “stuck” with one WordPress developer. We all charge different rates, we all have similar skill sets.

The differentiating factor is the care and consideration they give to you as the client.


Free eBook!

For a more in-depth look and explanation on the topics we’ve covered today, I’ve created an eBook.

My eventual goal is to sell it, but you lucky ducks get it for free. Subscribe to my blog to get a notification.


Q+A Time - Thank You!Time to ask and answer specific questions

[email protected]

www.IAmNickArmstrong.com

Twitter: @ImNickArmstrong (say hi!)

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/NickMArmstrong






http://www.linkedin.com/in/NickMArmstrong




Technology

WordPress for Business Owners