Date post: | 21-Feb-2017 |
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Using Wordpress
For Business
Paul Teague
Using Wordpress For
Business
All of the slides that you see today will be made available to you
online after the presentation.
You do not need to take notes – unless you want to!
The resources page will also include useful and related links.
Using Wordpress For
Business
What is a Content Management System?
Introduction To WordPress: What is WordPress and why
should you consider using it?
The difference between WordPress and WordPress.com
The difference between a blog and a web site
How to set up a free Wordpress site for free in 5 minutes
flat
Wordpress the proper way – using cPanel and installers
Domain names and nameservers
How to get support for WordPress through the forums and
useful sites
Logging into your new Wordpress blog
An introduction to Posts, Pages, Plugins and Themes
Setting up the basics (Title, Tagline, Gravatars and
Permalinks)
The difference between Pages and Posts
Using Wordpress For
Business
Your first Wordpress page
Your first Wordpress post
Adding images
Finding and changing themes
Wordpress categories
Wordpress comments
Wordpress widgets - what they are and how to use them
Wordpress menus - how to set them up and change them
An introduction to Wordpress plugins
Recommended Wordpress plugin: Jetpack
How to install and activate JetPack
Jetpack basics
Social Media shares with Jetpack
Forms with Jetpack
Extra plugins: SEO
Extra plugins: Security
Using Wordpress media for images and documents
My Wordpress recommendations and next steps
Using Wordpress For Business
• I’ve been blogging since 2008
• My blog started life as a trial run
• I didn’t think I’d keep it up!
• My blog has been through several makeovers since I created it
• I only blog occasionally –certainly not every day/week!
Using Wordpress For Business
• At its peak it’s had an
Alexa top 1% ranking,
making it one of the top
visited websites in the
world!
• I currently have 15 x
websites based on the
Wordpress platform
• I’ve installed Wordpress
hundreds of times now
Using Wordpress For
Business • Wordpress is what’s known as a CMS system ... which stands for
‘Content Management System’
• A CMS is a database driven system (usually) that doesn’t require any
technical knowledge once it’s been installed
• CMS is very widely used these days and most people don’t use static
websites any more
• Before Wordpress came along you were shackled to HTML, php,
FTP and all the rest of those techie horrors
• Whenever you wanted to make a change to your website, you had to
pay your webmaster lots of money to do it
• You would never have dared to change even an image on a static
website let alone the entire design!
Why Wordpress?
Using Wordpress For
Business • Wordpress is easy to install and simple to maintain
• Once installed, updates and complete overhauls take minutes
• It’s a WYSIWYG interface and no technical skills are needed (if you
can use eBay and Facebook, you can use Wordpress!)
• It’s used by 74 million+ other people!
• It has an extensive range of supporting plug-ins – many of them free
– which allow your to do virtually anything that you can imagine ...
and then a bit more
• You can add multimedia to Wordpress and it integrates seamlessly
with popular social media services like Facebook, LinkedIn and
Twitter and affiliate programs like Adsense, Amazon and Clickbank
Why Wordpress?
Using Wordpress For
Business
Notable Wordpress Users
Source:
https://wordpress.
com/notable-
users/
Using Wordpress For
Business
Wordpress Options
• There are two versions of Wordpress and it’s
important that you use the right one!
• http://wordpress.com/ is a hosted version of
the software ie you don’t have to install it
• http://wordpress.org/ is the self-installed
version of the software and it’s the option that
you should use
Using Wordpress For Business
http://wordpress.com/ is free,
very popular and extremely
impressive but if you’re
serious about blogging long
term you’ll find it restrictive
quite soon and it’s not best
for SEO
* Don’t worry if you use this, you can easily
export your work and import it to
Wordpress.org
Using Wordpress For Business
http://wordpress.org/ is free
and quite amazing. Since it
moved into version 2 – in my
opinion – it’s had no
competitors ... it is quite
simply the way you should
now make your websites*
* My personal opinion. Detractors will warn
you of security problems. I’ll show you ways
around that
Using Wordpress For
BusinessBasic identification of a website:
• A homepage that displays content from several sections of internal
website pages
• A design portfolio of work
• A blog might be a part of a website, but not the only thing
• A Frequently Asked Questions page that readers can browse to get
more information.
• A page of client testimonials and feedback
• Company’s terms and privacy statements pages
• A contact form that allows visitors to get in touch
• A services/products page that displays what they have to offer for the
visitors
• Put simply: It’s usually made up of basic information and is seldom
updated
Read more: What Is The Difference Between A Blog And A Website?
Blog vs Website
Using Wordpress For
Business
Blog vs Website
Basic identification of a website:
• A homepage that displays content from several sections of internal
website pages
• A design portfolio of work
• A blog might be a part of a website, but not the only thing
• A Frequently Asked Questions page that readers can browse to get
more information.
• A page of client testimonials and feedback
• Company’s terms and privacy statements pages
• A contact form that allows visitors to get in touch
• A services/products page that displays what they have to offer for the
visitors
• Put simply: It’s usually made up of basic information and is seldom
updated
Read more: What Is The Difference Between A Blog And A Website?
Using Wordpress For
Business
A Wordpress blog can do everything that a
web site can do – and much, much more – but
a web site can do only a small fraction of the
things that a Wordpress blog can do.
Using Wordpress For Business
Registering Your Free
Hostinger Account
Step 1: Go to
http://hostinger.co.uk
Step 2: Click on Create
Account in the top,
right hand corner of the site.
Using Wordpress For Business
Register for a paid Siteground
account
Go to
http://paulteague.com/siteground
I use 2 x GoGeek accounts
You need a StartUp account
You get your domain name free
for one year when you sign up for
StartUp hosting
Using Wordpress For Business
You can pay somebody else to install Wordpress for you
This is called outsourcing – it’s a very cost-effective way to get things done.
Don’t pay $5 for a Wordpress installation, that’s a bit cheap, the best deals start at around $40 for installation + 4-5 pages
Using Wordpress For
Business
Posts
• Posts are entries listed in reverse chronological order on the
blog home page or on the posts page if you have set one in
Settings → Reading.
• If you have created any sticky posts, those will appear
before the other posts.
• Posts can be found in the Archives, Categories, Recent
Posts, and other widgets.
• Posts are also displayed in the RSS feed of the blog.
• You can control how many posts are displayed at a time in
the Reading Settings.
Source: Wordpress.com
Using Wordpress For
Business
Pages
• Pages are static and are not listed by date.
• Pages do not use tags or categories.
• An About page is the classic example.
• Pages can be displayed in the sidebar using the Pages
widget, and some themes display pages in tabs at the top of
the blog.
• If you have 50 pages and you use the Pages widget, then all
pages will be listed all the time.
Source: Wordpress.com
Using Wordpress For
Business
What is a WordPress Theme?
• A WordPress theme provides all of the styling of your
WordPress site
• Themes can be free or paid. The better themes tend to be
paid, but there are many brilliant free themes.
• Most WordPress themes provide:
1. the overall design or style of your site
2. font styling
3. colors
4. widget locations
5. page layouts (or templates)
6. styles for blog posts and blog archives
7. additional stylistic details
Source: iThemes
Using Wordpress For Business
• WordPress plugins are bits of software that can be uploaded to extend and expand the functionality of your WordPress site.
• Note: One of the primary advantages of using the self-hosted version of WordPress from WordPress.org is the ability to upload and use plugins on your WordPress site.
• Plugins can be free or paid. There are many excellent free plugins which do all sorts of amazing things – SEO, social media buttons and so on. You definitely do not need to pay to get great plugins
• Plugins are the ‘game changer’ with Wordpress – they allow you to do amazing things in your site – for free – and without the need to get coders involved
Source: iThemes
Using Wordpress For Business
Buying Wordpress Themes
My favourite sources are:
https://themeforest.net
https://woocommerce.com/woothemes/
https://ithemes.com/
It’s best to pay for Wordpress themes as free themes often break and developers get fed up with them swiftly!
The themes that I uses are OptimizePress, ThriveThemes & Divi
Using Wordpress For
Business
WordPress Widgets
• A WordPress Widget is a small block that
performs a specific function.
• You can add these widgets in sidebars also
known as widget-ready areas on your web
page.
• WordPress widgets were originally created to
provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving
design and structure control of
the WordPress theme to the user.
Using Wordpress For
Business
The WordPress Widget Area
Using Wordpress For
Business
The WordPress Menu Area
Using Wordpress For
Business
WordPress Widgets
• One of the many reasons that I love WP so much are the plug-ins
• You can literally think of anything you want to do on a blog and
there’ll be a plug-in available to help you
• Many great plug-ins are free!
• Each plug-in function would cost you a lot of money to code if you
wanted to add it to a regular/static web site
• The simple way to think of a plug-in is that it is something that
does a job on your blog ie it captures email addresses, it shows
your Twitter feed, it lets you put adverts on your blog etc
• A plug-in is just a bit of code in a .zip file (to compress the size)
which you simply download from a website – upload to your blog
– install on your blog ... it’s simple!
Using Wordpress For Business
Remember!
If this is all a bit too geeky
for you, remember that you
can get somebody else to
do the work!
Using Wordpress For Business
Jetpack is the ideal all-in-one
free Wordpress plugin for
beginners.
There’s a lot of ‘stuff’ packed in
there and it helps to make using
Wordpress a little more
straightforward.
I don’t use it – it’s not something
that more experienced users
would feel the need to use.
Using Wordpress For
Business
Jetpack
Using Wordpress For
Business
Jetpack
Using Wordpress For
Business
Siteground
Step 1: You first need to add your domain to Siteground. To begin
this process, head for your cpanel, and click on the Addon
Domains area [1]
Using Wordpress For
Business
Siteground
Step 2: In this process, you ‘connect’ your domain name to your cpanel area. Note in [1] that you
don’t use http or www … just enter the domain name. [2] & [3] are auto-filled, use the password
generator [4] to create your password, then click [5] to add your domain – that’s it!
Using Wordpress For
Business
Siteground
Step 3: Access the
Wordpress Installer [2].
Note also that your
nameservers are very easy
to find [1} if you ever need
to transfer your domain
name.
Using Wordpress For
Business
Siteground
Step 4: This process is almost
exactly the same as it was for
Hostinger. Make sure that you note
down your username and password.
Leave the In Directory are blank.
Everything else you can change in
the Wordpress admin area.
Using Wordpress For
Business• These are free plug-ins that I use myself
• I would describe these as essential plug-ins on
any blog
• It’s not a comprehensive list – and I’m saving
some for the security section and the SEO part
of the coaching
• They’re all exactly the same process:
Plugins > Add New > Search Plugins > Install
Now > Activate > Configure
WordPress Plugins
Using Wordpress For
Business
Tools to make SEO much simpler
• Put simply, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is giving
your blog the best chance of showing up in the search
engines (Google, Bing etc)
• Most people find it really hard to rank their static
website in the search engines ... but Google loves
quality blogs!
• I’m not an SEO expert!
• These are simple, basic, effective strategies that cost
nothing
Using Wordpress For
Business
Tools to make SEO much simpler
https://en-gb.wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/
My comments: Tends
to be most widely
used, I’m not keen
though, it’s over-
complicated in my
opinion.
Using Wordpress For
Business
Tools to make SEO much simpler
https://en-gb.wordpress.org/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/
My comments: My
favourite for
Wordpress, I’ve used
it for years.
Using Wordpress For
Business
Tools to make SEO much simpler
https://en-gb.wordpress.org/plugins/google-sitemap-generator/
My comments: My
favourite, I’ve used it
for years.
Using Wordpress For
Business
Tools to make security much simpler
• All websites have security and technical issues - even
simple, static websites
• Wordpress is very vulnerable to malicious attack
because of its popularity
• Make sure you use at least the simple security
measures that I give you
• In context, my site has remained intact for 9 years ...
so far
• I pay for Sucuri to monitor and protect my most
important WP installations
Using Wordpress For
Business
Tools to make security much simpler
• Always update to the latest version of
Wordpress
• Do not use the default 'admin' username
• Use a secure password (use a free
service like LastPass to make it really
secure!)
• Keep your themes and plugins updated
Using Wordpress For
Business
My comments: My
favourite, I’ve used it
for years. Can make
your Wordpress site
impregnanble if you
want it to
Tools to make Wordpress security much simpler
https://en-gb.wordpress.org/plugins/all-in-one-wp-security-and-firewall/
Using Wordpress For
Business
My comments: My
favourite, I’ve used it
for years.
Tools to make Wordpress security much simpler
https://en-gb.wordpress.org/plugins/limit-login-attempts/
Using Wordpress For
Business
Tools to make Wordpress security much simpler
My comments: A
great, effective and
free anti-spam plugin
https://en-gb.wordpress.org/plugins/anti-spam/
Using Wordpress For
Business
Tools to make Wordpress security much simpler
My comments: You
can use this plugin
for free, you can also
pay for the Sucuri
service and they’ll
sort out any security-
related problems that
you have.https://en-gb.wordpress.org/plugins/limit-login-attempts/
Using Wordpress For
Business
General use Wordpress plugins
My comments: A
really simple way of
creating a ‘Contact
Us’ form
https://en-gb.wordpress.org/plugins/si-contact-form/
Using Wordpress For
Business
General use Wordpress plugins
My comments: You
might not need this,
but if you’re putting
any tracking codes
on your website,
under EU law, you
should use this.
https://en-gb.wordpress.org/plugins/cookie-law-info/
Using Wordpress For
Business
Social Wordpress plugins
My comments: I like
how it looks, it’s got a
bit ‘commercial’ since
I first started using it
https://en-gb.wordpress.org/plugins/shareaholic/
Using Wordpress For
Business
Social Wordpress plugins
My comments: I use
this on my podcast
and I pay for it. It
gives a very versatile
social interface
https://en-gb.wordpress.org/plugins/social-warfare/
Using Wordpress For
Business
Social Wordpress plugins
My comments: This
is one of my
favourites, I have
used it for several
years with no
problems
https://en-gb.wordpress.org/plugins/aas-digg-digg-alternative/
Using Wordpress For
Business
Setting up your own Wordpress site
• You need to have a proper URL (ie http://myblog.com) as this
is much better for SEO purposes
• Look for web hosting with cPanel with QuickInstall or
Softaculous
• You do not need to pay a lot of money for web hosting
• I used Hostgator for many years, I started with their cheap
‘Hatchling’ plan, now I useSiteGround
• Both are fine for new users
• Go to http://paulteague.com/hostgator25 and enter the code
ChamberDiscount for 25% off or head for
http://paulteague.com/siteground for a free domain name with
your hosting [Affiliate links!]
Using Wordpress For
Business
Buying a domain name
I recommend using SiteGround for your Wordpress hosting – they
give you a free domain name with your 1st year’s hosting, so that
will make life very easy for you!
If you decide to buy your domain name elsewhere, I use
https://www.fasthosts.co.uk/ and have done so since I purchased
my very first domain name.
Due to DNS propagation, it can take up to 12 hours before your
new domain/subdomain will start working.
Only contact your hosting service support desk if your site hasn’t
appeared after 24 hours
Using Wordpress For Business
QuickInstall
Softaculous
• These take all the geekiness
out of a Wordpress
installation
• They’re ‘on-click’ simple –
you genuinely need no
technical knowledge
• This is the biggest secret
about Wordpress – you
don’t need to pay somebody
£££ to install it
• You also get support from
your web hosting company
Using Wordpress For
Business
Your simple Wordpress, small business action plan
1)Think mobile in everything that you do online
2)Think social in everything that you do
3)Create great page content on your site
4)Label your images for SEO power
5)Use keywords for SEO power
6)Use a self-installed Wordpress site with
your own domain name – ditch Wix!
7)Keep your Wordpress site up-to-date
8)Keep listening and learning to develop your
Wordpress knowledge & skills
Using Wordpress For
Businesshttps://wordpress.org/support/ … the
official Wordpress support site. Please
make this site your friend
http://learn.wordpress.com/ … an
amazing free site with step-by-step
guidance. Well worth a look.
http://en.forums.wordpress.com/forum/sup
port ... Need help? Post a question on the
official forum.
WordPress Help
Using Wordpress For
Business
Access all of the slides from today, as well as
lots of useful URLs and resources, via this link:
http://www.paulteague.com/WPFEB