Introduction toWordpressPresented Mikki Barker

Understanding Wordpress

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WP is a blank slate for your creativity

● The power of “Open Source.”● Content Management System CMS● Dynamic content

Why Wordpress?

WordPress powers 22.5% of all websites on the internet.

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● WordPress is open source so it’s FREE

● Easy to Use and Learn

● Extendable by Using Themes and Plugins

● Search Engine Friendly

● Safe and Secure

● A large WordPress community

WordPress.com or WordPress.org?

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Wordpress.org

● Free Wordpress download

● Free theme and plugin library

● WordPress.org support forums

for assistance

Wordpress.com

● Free Wordpress hosting with limitations○ It’s free for up to 3GB of space. After that you

pay for space ($19.95 per year for 5GB) or ($289.97 per year for 100GB). No plugins allowed, no custom themes allowed.

More Detail: More Pros & Cons

Installation...

Five-Minute Install

● Many hosting companies will install for you● You’ll only do this once, don’t sweat it

If you don’t have ftp access to your site consider having a professional install it or you.

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Exploring the WordPress Dashboard

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Behind the scene details are managed here

What to do first?

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Visit WP Settings

Wordpress Settings USER: adminPW: abby2050

Settings

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Settings

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Settings

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Settings

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What is a Theme?

Thousands of available themes, FREE and PAID

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1. A WordPress Theme is a collection of files

that work together with Wordpress to produce

a user friendly interface with an underlying

unifying design for a blog or web site.

2. A Theme modifies the way the site is

displayed, without modifying the underlying

software (Wordpress).

FREE Themes

Themes

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Choosing a Theme

FREE vs. PAID

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1. Strive for Simplicity

2. Responsive is Not Optional Anymore

3. What is the website purpose?

4. Always examine the Live Preview closely

5. Read all Reviews!!!

6. Make sure there is Good Documentation,

Technical Support & User Forum.

7. Look for supporting XML files

8. Do you need a “Page Builder”?

9. Does it have shortcodes?

FREE Themes

InstallingYour Theme

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InstallingYour Theme

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InstallingYour Theme

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Pages vs. Posts

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A page is stand alone content

A post is time driven content and is dynamically created using plugins throughout your site.EXAMPLE

A Look at Posts

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Posts

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How to add your posts to your site

Widgets in the sidebar:

Drag n drop the action you want on your sidebar.

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How to add your posts to your site

The Results...

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How to add your posts to your site

Page template:

Select the blog template

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How to add your posts to your site

The Results...

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A Look at Pages

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Pages

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Pages

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Pages

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Pages

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Pages

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Creating Menus

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Creating a User-Friendly the Menu

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The position of the menu● a horizontal menu● a vertical menu on the left● a vertical menu on the right.

● Limit the number of items● Mind the wording● Classify your items● Be consistent

Creating the Menu

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Using Plugins

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What are Plugins?

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Free Plugins

WordPress plugins are bits of software that can be uploaded to extend and expand the functionality of your WordPress site.

Choosing Plugins…

Try multiple search terms to narrow down your best choice.

If you aren't getting the returned results you expect, Google it

● How many positive reviews does it have?

● How many times has it been installed?

What are Plugins?

36Free Plugins

Using a Plugin…

● How many positive reviews does it have?● How many times has it been installed?

What are Plugins?

37Free Plugins

Using a Plugin…

What are Plugins?

38Free Plugins

Using a Plugin…

● How many positive reviews does it have?● How many times has it been installed?

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My Favorite Plugins

● SEO Presser - A SEO checklist to insure every page is optimized ● Super Cache - Optimizes your pages automatically for fast page load ● The Events Calendar - A carefully crafted plugin that lets you easily share your events. ● WordPress Carousel Free - Turns the built in Wordpress gallery into a slider● WooCommerce - An ecommerce toolkit that helps you sell anything online ● WordFence - A easy to use security plugin● Recent Post Widget Thumbnail - widget with thumbnails, post excerpt, post date.

● Simple Lightbox - The highly customizable lightbox for WordPress

● Contact-form-7 - Probably the easiest and best way to include a form on your site● WP-DB-Backup - Site back-up tool - A must!

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● Theme Options

Customizing your theme

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● Switch to a Default WordPress Theme○ Sometimes your WordPress theme can cause issues on your site.

● Deactivate plugins one at a time○ Often errors are caused by a plugins conflicting with each other

Troubleshooting

Thank YouQ&A

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Mikki Barker - Web & Graphics Designerwww.MikkiBarker.com