introduction to wordpress

Introduction to WordPress

Craig BaileyXEN Systems

www.xensystems.netwww.craigbailey.net

@craigbailey

http://www.xenseo.net/

http://www.craigbailey.net/

http://twitter.com/craigbailey

WordPress for Business

Agenda• Aim for the night• About our speakers• Introduction to WordPress• WordPress as a CMS• Case Study – Get Organized Wizard• Plugins• Themes• Hosting• Tools

www.craigbailey.net | www.xensystems.net


Craig Bailey

• WordPress sites• SEO• Google AdWords

• Using WordPress for 2 years


Our Speakers

• Tony Cosentino - eCommerce• Jeff Waugh - Performance• Kristin Rohan - SEO• Steve Wilson – Content, SEO, Integration• Jodie Miners – Customisation, CSS

http://thewpguy.com.au/

http://bethesignal.org/

http://sassyseo.com/

http://www.citirecruitment.com/

http://jodiem.com.au/

What are your burning questions?

• What are your top 3 items of interest?



Wordpress.org vs Wordpress.com

• Wordpress.com – hosted blogs eg– http://craigbailey.wordpress.com/ – http://jodiem.com.au/

• WordPress MU – multi-user • Wordpress.org – self hosted

We are only discussing wordpress.org

http://craigbailey.wordpress.com/

http://jodiem.com.au/


Excel is my Word processor...

• Most things can be twisted and mangled into doing something they aren’t supposed to...

• There’s a plugin for that... • So, what are the realistic scenarios for WP


Scenarios

• Business sites with standard content types• Business blogs & News sites• Micro-sites (marketing sites)• Small business online stores• Membership sites

• Most standard web CMS scenarios...


What is a CMS?

• Web Content Management System• Create/manage HTML & images• Authoring tools• Templates for presentation

“The software provides authoring (and other) tools designed to allow users with little knowledge of programming languages or markup languages to create and manage content with relative ease.” (Wikipedia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_language

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markup_language

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markup_language

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_content_management_system

www.craigbailey.net | www.xenseo.net

WordPress as a CMS

Create content simply• HTML (pages and blog posts)• Images• Video


Example sites

TechCrunch CrikeyForbesNational Geographic (Netherlands)Toledo Museum of ArtUnited States MissionUniversity of MaineHarvard Gazette

Nokia Now Playing micro-siteSAP infoPepsi Refresh ProjectComacho CigarsMilitary Sealift CommandNikon Festivalh MAGI can haz cheez burger

• More on the WordPress Showcase

http://techcrunch.com/

http://techcrunch.com/

http://www.crikey.com.au/

http://blogs.forbes.com/billions/

http://magazine.nationalgeographic.nl/

http://www.toledomuseum.org/

http://geneva.usmission.gov/

http://umaine.edu/

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/

http://nowplaying.nokia.com/

http://en.sap.info/

http://www.refresheverything.com/blog/

http://camachocigars.com/

http://camachocigars.com/

http://www.sealiftcommand.com/

http://www.nikonfestival.com/

http://www.h-mag.com/

http://icanhascheezburger.com/





http://wordpress.org/showcase/


Why is it so popular?

• Simple to get started• Simple to use• Simple to extend• Simple to style using themes• Simple to backup• Simple to host• Moderately simple to integrate with


What’s missing

• Workflow• Document management• Collaboration• User groups management• Atomic control of page elements/permissions


Case Study

• www.GetOrganizedWizard.com

http://www.getorganizedwizard.com/


Tools

• Windows Live Writer

http://download.live.com/writer


Configuring WordPress

• Themes• Plugins• Widgets


Themes• Thesis• Woo Themes• Elegant Themes• Remix• Theme Forest (considering)

Others mentioned by the group:• Sandbox• Builder – iThemes – Developer licenses• Carrington• Headway• Artisteer• Theme Hybrid

http://diythemes.com/thesis/

http://www.woothemes.com/

http://www.elegantthemes.com/

http://wpremix.com/

http://themeforest.net/category/wordpress


Integration

• WordPress themes are very clean• CSS is your friend• Simple to grab their styling and apply to other

applications


Integration examples

• Interspire Shopping Cart (link)• aMember Membership software (link)• vBulletin Forums (link)

http://www.interspire.com/shoppingcart/

http://www.amember.com/p/

http://www.vbulletin.com/


Plugins

• pageMash• W3 Total Cache• WP Security Scan• Backup WordPress• DrainHole• Topsy • Wishlist Member

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/pagemash/

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/w3-total-cache/

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-security-scan/

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/backupwordpress/

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/drain-hole/

http://labs.topsy.com/widgets/wordpress/

http://member.wishlistproducts.com/


Widgets

• Add to sidebars• Add to footer


Hosting

• DreamHost VPS – Virtual Private Servers• Media Temple – (dv) Dedicated Virtual

Other hosting options mentioned by the group• WordPressHosting.com.au - $9/$19 AUD –

Alan Harris• NetworkDynamics.com.au • WellSites.com.au from $50

http://www.dreamhost.com/hosting-vps.html

http://www.dreamhost.com/hosting-vps.html

http://mediatemple.net/webhosting/dv/

http://wordpresshosting.com.au/

http://networkdynamics.com.au/

http://wellsites.com.au/


Windows Azure

Cloud computing hostinghttp://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/windowsazure/

• Advantages– Instant scalability– No commitments– Pay for consumption

• Disadvantages– Loss of control

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/windowsazure/


Gotchas

• Choose good hosting ( with decent support)• Be careful doing upgrades– Core WordPress– Plugin upgrades

• Plugin conflicts• Caching lockups


Summary

• WordPress is great for managing content• Use the parts that work for you• Integrate others

Questions

• Free Personal site audit – email me– [email protected]

• WordPress Development for Business– www.xensystems.net

• More resources– www.craigbailey.net/resources – www.craigbailey.net/bloggers


mailto:[email protected]

http://www.xensystems.net/

http://www.craigbailey.net/resources

http://www.craigbailey.net/bloggers

introduction to wordpress

Self Improvement

presentationthe software

scenariosbusiness sites

business agendaaim

blogs eghttp

markup languages

hostmoderately simple

realistic scenarios

gotchaschoose good hosting