An Introduction To WordPressHall Web Services

Who We Are

Alayna WhiteCMS Manager/Developeralayna@hallme.com

Hall Web Serviceswww.hallme.com

• 11 Years in Business

@Hall_Web

@CMS_Girl

Got Questions?

• Use GoToWebinar “Ask a Question”

• Twitter with @hall_web

About You:

What You'll Learn: What WordPress is and the history behind it

The basics of WordPress and how it can be customized

Pros and cons of WordPress and how to determine if it is the best solution for your website/blog

You are getting ready to create a website/blog or re-do your current one and are wondering if WordPress is for you

You want to learn more about the basics of Wordpress and how it works

What Is Blogging Software?

•A software application for creating and managing content entries on the web which are displayed in reverse-chronological order

•Entries saved in database or files

•Anyone can set up and maintain a blog

•Commercial or Open Source

What Is Wordpress?• Released in May 2003 by Matt Mullenwag and

Mike Little as a successor of b2/cafelog

• Added Plugins (2004), Theme System and Static Pages (2005), Tagging (2007) and more!

• Used by over 200 million websites, including 300 of the 10,000 biggest websites

• Free web based, database driven, open source system

• Released version 3.0 (Thelonious) in June 2010

“Famous 5 Minute Install”• Install on Your Own:

– download package free from wordpress.org

– unzip files and upload to server– create database– Enter info at wp-admin/install.php

• Enable WordPress on your server if it has it installed already

• Create a blog through wordpress.com

• Easy to import from other blogs

“Just Another WordPress Site”

• SEO Friendly

• Formatting and Styling

• Media Uploading/Library

• Archive

• Categories, Tagging

• Permalinks

• Trackback and Pingback

Users• 5 predefined user roles with unique capabilities:– Administrator– Editor– Author– Contributor– Subscriber

•Posts can have multiple authors

•Can have password protected and private posts

•With a little code you can add, edit and remove roles and capabilities

Posts• Very simple to create – just click “Add

New” and fill in the blanks!

• Create a title and add content using visual editor

• Can preview post and change published state (can also schedule a post to publish at a later date!)

• Place in categories and add tags

• Many more settings – excerpt, comments, multiple authors, permalink, privacy level, custom fields

Pages• The same as a post but is static non-

blog content– Not time-dependent– Still dynamically generated from

database– No tags or categories

• Can create as many pages and sub pages as you want!– Create sub pages by choosing

a parent page to create hierarchy

• Ability to have a different template

• The home page of your site can be a page instead of a list of blog posts

Comments• Can enable and disable per post and page

• Create threads by commenting on other comments

• Ability to change settings so that you approve comments first or so they are automatically posted

• See all comments in admin area in queue where you can approve, unapprove, reply, edit, spam, or trash them

• Roles can be defined for who can comment, reply, and moderate them

Plugins•Plugins extend WordPress to have extra functionality or enhance current features

– Examples: rating systems, contact form, spam management, SEO, photo gallery...

•Thousands free to public on wordpress.org

•To install:– Download plugin– Upload to plugins directory on server– Activate from Plugins Management

•Upgrading WordPress may break some plugins

•Can develop your own if you know code!

Themes/Templating System• “Have a new design every day!”

• Hundreds of free themes on wordpress.org and other sites

• Installation very similar to installing a Plugin

• Templates allow for unique layouts in addition to look– Move around widgets without

touching code

• Can customize code or develop your own template!

Security Issues

•Many were found in 2007 and 2008

•Updating is very important!

•Pick a secure username and password

•Use spam protection tools and install plugins to help

•Backup often and know what installation you have

Pros

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/peyri/462244646/

•Simple to learn and use, quick to update

•Posts listed sequentially with archive

•Categories for blog posts

•Can be used to create a blog that can be implemented into larger site with same look and feel

•Good SEO for posts and pages

Cons

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/helga/2450891473/

•Not easily scalable

•Not practical for adding many unique pages in addition to your blog

•Not the most secure CMS

•Not the best for e-commerce or detailed content with a complex set up

How To Determine if WordPress is Best For You

• First come up with a content strategy

•Yes – You want a blog focused site

•No – The website will include many resources and dynamic information

•Yes – You have a small site with pages of text and images

Additional Resources• Official WordPress Site -http://wordpress.org

•WordPress Hosting - http://wordpress.com

• Documentation - http://codex.wordpress.org

•Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WordPress

• Smashing Magazine - http://www.smasingmagazine.com/tag/wordpress

Re-cap• WordPress is a web based, open source

blogging system released in 2003

• The structure of WordPress includes users, posts, pages, comments, plugins and themes

• There are security issues with WordPress but keeping track of your site and updating can prevent a lot of problems

• WordPress is perfect for blog-based sites and smaller sites, but is hard to scale up for more complex sites

Questions?

Learn MoreFollow Hall: @Hall_WebFollow Alayna: @CMS_Girl

•SEO Vision Blog - http://www.hallme.com/blog

•Webinars – http://www.hallme.com/webinars– Next week – Jenika presents: What's a Web Strategy and Why Do I Need One?– In 2 weeks – Kasi presents: Five SEO Mistakes to Avoid

•Call us! 1-877-425-5932 (HALL-WEB)

•alayna@hallme.com