This is the February 2013 update to my intro to WordPress and Websites with WordPress class taught through UBC Continuing Studies.

1. INTRODUCTION TO
WORDPRESS
Building & Creating a Website with WordPress.com
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2. 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
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3. 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?
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4. 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.
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5. 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
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6. 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.
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7. 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
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8. 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
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9. 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
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10. 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
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11. Starting with WordPress.com
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12. CREATING AN ACCOUNT
• Email address (which auto-maps as your username, but you
can change that)
• Blog address like mycoolnewblog.wordpress.com
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17. Let’s Take A Tour
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18. JUST A COUPLE SETTINGS FIRST
• Site name
• Site tag line
• Timezone
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19. 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
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20. 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
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21. POST EDITOR
• Remember, two types of content in WordPress:
• Posts
• Pages
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23. Title here
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24. Title here
Click to open the “Kitchen Sink”
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25. Content goes here
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26. Link tool
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27. Add images
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28. Tags
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29. Categories
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30. Preview
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31. Publish
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36. LET’S CREATE CONTENT
• Write text
• Link to something
• Insert an image
• Insert a YouTube video
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37. 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”
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38. ADDING IMAGES
• Click “Add Media” button
• Drag Image(s) to it
• Click to Insert image
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41. 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
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47. RULES OF USING PICTURES
• Make sure you have the right to
• Give credit and link to the source
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48. 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!
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53. PAGE EDITOR
• Just like the Post Editor with a few exceptions
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54. No Tags or Categories.
Page templates instead
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55. 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
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56. Creating a Site
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57. 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
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58. HOW DO YOU ORGANIZE YOUR SITE?
• It’s not set in stone
• Think about major topics first
• Try to keep grouping broad and fluid
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59. 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?
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60. PICKING A THEME
• Style
• Color
• Features
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61. STARTS WITH APPEARANCE SETTINGS
• Click Appearance
• And start browsing
• or Use the Feature Filter
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67. TIME TO CUSTOMIZE
• Menus
• Header
• Background
• Widgets
• Layout and Homepage
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68. 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”
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74. HEADERS
• What makes a good header?
• Editing the image
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80. BACKGROUNDS
• Choosing the right image
• Choosing no image at all
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82. WIDGETS
• What they are for
• Using widgets and widget areas
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84. WORDPRESS AND SEO
• Use descriptive titles
• Use descriptive categories
• Use tags
• Write “normally”
• Use descriptive link text
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85. 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
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86. 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
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87. 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.
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88. INSTALLING
• Using your host’s one-click or easy install method is
recommended
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89. PLUGINS
• Choosing
• Installing
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90. MY RECOMMENDED PLUGINS
• WPtouch
• WordTwit
• WP Super Cache or W3 Super Cache
• JetPack
• WP-DBManager
• Google Analyticator
• All In One SEO Pack
• Akismet
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91. THEMES
• Choosing
• Installing
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92. 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
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93. CONTACT INFO
• tris@trishussey.com
• Website: http://www.trishussey.com
• Twitter: http://twitter.trishussey.com
• LinkedIn: http://linkedin.trishussey.com
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