WordPress: Your Passport to Business

WORDPRESS A PASSPORT FOR BUSINESS DEBRA SCHMIDT Detroit Networking WCCC December 12, 2013

Your passport

December 12, 2013 WordPress: A Business Passport by Debra Schmidt 2

Your Tour Guide • Debra Schmidt is an online designer, WordPress blogger

and micro-business consultant for people taking their businesses online with WordPress or Zazzle.

•  Find her online at Beachwalker’s Time on the Beach on Zazzle (www.zazzle.com/beachwalker*/) and www.RightBrainLeftTurn.com

• Connect with her on social media: www.Facebook.com/rightbrainleftturn and www.Twitter.com/rightbrainLT

• 


What to look for on this trip • What is WordPress?

•  Is WordPress right for your business?

• DIY vs assistance setting up & maintaining your site


Where are you going?


What is WordPress?

• Fun & Painful • Easy & Hard • Foreign language & Familiar words


Why use WordPress? • Personal • Business • Experiment with online presence


How much does it cost? • Free

• WordPress.com (without upgrades) • WordPress.org SOFTWARE

• Oodles • Learning • Professional Assistance • Domain name & Hosting • Components: themes, plug-ins • Content • Marketing • Maintenance


How long does it take? • Fifteen minutes

• BLANK website on existing hosting account • Forever

• Research • Planning •  Initial Content Creation • Design Development • Maintenance • Continued Content Creation • Promotion • Continuing Education / Development


Tale of two cities . . . Choose one • WordPress.com

•  Easy to start •  Free •  Maintenance-free •  Restrictions •  Up-grades available at a price (CSS, domain, no ads, etc)

• WordPress.org •  Own domain •  Own hosting •  Own maintenance •  FLEXIBLE (plugins and more) •  No restrictions (TOS of hosting company)


How DIY is WordPress? • Compared to travel modes

•  Hitchhiking – you’ll get there, but maybe not efficiently •  Tour Buses – you’ll get there, but not so original •  Driving – you’ll get there, once you figure it all out yourself •  Escorts – you’ll get there, but pay premium •  Armchair – you’ll not go anywhere


WordPress.org set-up • Plan your site • Purchase a Domain Name from Domain Registrar • Set up a paid Hosting Account •  Install WordPress software

•  Easy way: Fantastico on cPanel or equivalent 5 minute install •  DIY: download software then upload to hosting account, etc


Learning the language of the web • Basic Components of a marketable site

•  Domain Name •  Hosting •  URL •  SEO •  GA

• As well as languages •  HTML •  CSS •  PHP


Learning the language of WordPress •  Layout is in three parts

•  Header •  Body •  Footer / Sidebar


HEADER

BODY SIDEBAR

[FOOTER is a type of SIDEBAR

Language of WordPress • Posts – reverse chronological order (commonly the Blog) • Pages – generally evergreen, accessed via menu • Menus – aka Nav Bar, links to pages and categories •  Links – hyperlinks to external sites, other pages / content • Widgets – code / image snippets in sidebar • Plugins – pre-written code for short-cuts, ease of use


Your WordPress Install • Name – Site name •  Tagline – What’s your site about? • Username – DO NOT use Admin (security risk) • Password – You know the drill

• Note: this is over-simplified! You will have numerous passwords for domain registrar, hosting account, database and admin of site.


Dashboard • WordPress 3.7 3.8 released today!

•  Automatic mini-updates

• Set-up options on dashboard •  Time zone •  Comments on or off •  Permalinks – creates URL of each page or post. Cannot change

later. •  etc


Purpose • Drives everything

•  Budget and cost •  Choice of hosting •  Choice of theme •  DIY or Pro •  eCommerce •  Advertising


Looking Good •  Theme •  Layout • Colors • Graphics

•  Logo •  Header •  Avatar •  Favicon •  Banners •  Ads

•  Fonts


In your suitcase • Plugins

•  Jetpack •  Maintenance •  Cache / Optimize •  Contact Forms •  Slideshows •  SEO •  Security •  Design


On the shelf • Widgets already available with any theme

•  Comments •  Tag clouds •  Text boxes

Note: Themes [especially premium ones] may offer a plethora of available widgets


Rules of the road •  Legal

•  Disclosures required, especially for affiliating and selling •  Intellectual Property

•  Respect others, protect your own •  T.O.S.

•  Hosting company will have these •  You may add your own

•  Legal page •  Optional, depends on type of site you run


Typical content • Header

•  Title or logo, tagline

• Main •  Home Page (may or may not be blog) •  Blog (optional) •  About •  Contact •  Archives (optional)

• Sidebar •  Ads, search, links

•  Footer •  Credits, copyright


Web Content is different • Write for web audience

•  Short •  Conversational •  Headings and subheadings •  Images are good


Marketing • Separate discussion. . . • SEO • Social media sharing • Site maps • Plugins can help • Outside links • Analytics packages


Let’s go! •  Look at a live WordPress site

•  Dashboard •  Switch themes •  Add plugins •  Look at widgets •  Updates


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WordPress: Your Passport to Business

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