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WHY USE WORDPRESS?

WordPress is a content management system (CMS) which makes creating and managing cont ent a breeze.You don’t need to know how to write html or css in order to set up, run and manage a WordPress website(although it doesn’t hurt). WordPress powers about 25% of the world’s websites making it the most popular CMS.WordPress:

-Is well supported.

-Is open source and FREE!

-Is easy to install.

-Has thousands of free and paid themes to choose from.

- Has thousands of free and paid plugins that let youexpand on core WordPress

functionality in near limitless ways.

-Is search engine friendly.

-Is a great blogging platform.

-Is highly extensible. If you can’t find a plugin or theme for your needs you can

create your own or hire a developer to create a plugin or theme for you.

The Admin Area

Once you’ve installed WordPress you will want to navigate to the admin area (also referred to as the backend). The admin area is where you will manage your new website, add posts and pages, choose a theme, add plugins, create navigation menus, place widgets and so on. This area is for you and any users you choose to give access to. To navigate to the admin area, visit http://yourdomainname.com/wpadmin (replace yourdomainname with your actual domain name) and login with the credentials you created when installing WordPress. If you are viewing the frontend (what everyone visiting your website sees) of your website and you are logged in, you can easily navigate to the backend by clicking your website’s name in the “admin bar” which is the bar at the top of every page with a black background and several menu items.

Choosing a Theme

Choosing a theme is one of the first things you’ll want to do when setting up your WordPress site. Themes set the overall design for your site. Each theme offers different options and page templates, so it is important that you carefully review a theme before settling on it. Themes are separate from you content, so if you do decide to change a theme, your content will remain in place.

-If you aren’t logged in, log in. Now, navigate to the admin area. Remember, you can log in by visiting http://youdomainname.com/wpadmin (where yourdomainname is the name of your domain).

- Next, find the “appearance” menu item in the long menu found on the left side of the admin area. Then choose the sub menu “themes”.

-Click “Add New” at the top.

-Choose and install a theme from the list of themes.

Setting Up a Theme

Each theme will be a bit different to set up as the setup process is largely left up to the developer. You will have to refer to the theme’s documentation for how to set it up. Look for the readme file (or similar) in the theme’s folder. There are some theme options that will remain the same across every theme. These options can be found in the admin area by clicking appearance>customize. The most confusing option I’ve found is the “static front page”, specifically when it comes to setting up your blog. To set up your blog you will first need to create a blank page. You can give the page a name like “blog”. Now go to the customizer (appearance>customize), select “static front page” and set the dropdown under “posts page” to the blank page you just created. The process will be similar for your homepage. You will create a page and give it a title like “home” (you can give it whatever title you want though) then go to the WordPress customizer and select your homepage as your front page. It’s important to include a link to your blog and homepage somewhere in your menu. More on that later. These options are for the most part selfexplanatory. You will find a place to upload your logo, give your site a title and much more. Play around with them and have fun!

Creating Pages

Pages are similar to blog posts, however they won’t show on your blog. Pages are meant for pages like “About Us”, “Contact Us”, “Our Team” and so on.

To create a page:

- Click “pages” in the admin area.

- Click “add new” at the top.

- Add your title and content.

- Choose a template which is a dropdown found under page attributes.

-Publish your page or save it as a draft.

Page templates will take your content and title and present them as different layouts. Common templates include a full width page and left and right hand sidebar pages. Page template selections vary by theme. You can design your page using the built in WYSIWYG editor or if you are familiar with HTML and CSS you can click the “text” tab at the top left of the page editor and enter your HTML and CSS there. You will probably find the WYSIWYG editor to be a bit lacking for page designs. There are some themes like Divi which have a page builder included. Keep in mind that these are not really professional methods for building and designing websites and they are geared toward DIYers. If you are serious about creating a website for your business, consider hiring a professional (like myself) to design and build your website. There’s nothing worse for you business than a homemade website.

Writing a Blog Post

Writing a blog post is simple.

-Make sure you are in the admin area, then in the left hand menu, click “posts”.

- Click “Add New”

-Add your title, content, categories and tags.

-Click “publish” or “save draft” if you would like to save a draft that you will publish later

The Media Library

WordPress includes a media library for managing all of you pictures, videos and file uploads. The media library can be found in the admin area in the left menu. Click “media” to navigate to the media library.Any media you upload can be used in your posts and pages. It’s important to understand that once you’ve uploaded a file (image, video, etc.) that it is now on your server (your website) and doesn’t have to be uploaded again.

Plugins

Plugins are used to expand upon the core functionality of WordPress. If you ever find yourself needing to do something with your website that WordPress doesn’t do by default, you’ll want to try to find a plugin. Some common plugins are used for:

- Contact forms (Contact Form 7)

-Website backups (Updraft Plus)

-Security (Wordfence)

-Portfolios

- eCommerce (WooCommerce)

-Quizzes (WP Pro Quiz)

-Membership Restriction (Paid Memberships Pro)

- Invoicing (Sprout Invoices)

To install a plugin:

-In the admin area select “plugins” from the left menu.

-At the top click “add new”.

-Search for the desired type of plugin you are looking for.

- Click “install” for the plugin you would like to install.

-After the plugins is installed, click “activate plugin”.

The plugin will now be installed and ready to use.Every plugin will be different. You will have to refer to the plugin’s documentation on how to use the plugin.Try to only install plugins that have good ratings and are tested with your version of WordPress. While rare, a plugin can break your site. Installing only trusted plugins will reduce this risk. It’s also a good idea to only install plugins that you absolutely need. Installing too many plugins can slow down your site.

Conclusion

While I’ve covered the most important aspects of WordPress, there’s a lot more to discover and learn. This post is only meant as a quick starting guide. The best thing to do from here on out is to get your feet wet.

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