Getting Started with

Every Artist Needs

a Great Website

In this session…

What is WordPress? Steps to get you started Tour of the backend admin panel WordPress Terminology Questions

What is WordPress? an Open Source Content Management

System (CMS) over 60 million websites use WordPress.

WordPress rules the web! initially a blogging platform – no longer just

for blogs there’s no limit to what a WordPress site can

look like

Which WordPress?WordPress.com (personal blog) WordPress.org (website)

hosted for you for freeno servers or code required!

is self-hosted - installed on your paid web hosting account

yourblogname.wordpress.comcan pay to add on your domain

uses your own domain name

limited number of themes,can't modify the CSS / theme

100% control to choose & customize themes

restricted to built-in features,can't add additional plugins

100% control to add plugins

maintenance is looked after you need to backup & update

WordPress.com network you're site is independent

This presentation will focus on WordPress.org Websites from now on….

WordPress Geek Speak…

Follow the steps to get setup…

http://learnwp.ca

Click on Pre-workshop

Walk through the posts…1. Register a Domain name - yourname.ca or .com

2. Signup for Hosting

3. Point the domain from the domain registrar to the host's server by setting the DNS

4. Install WordPress to the ROOT directory on the server of your hosting account. WordPress is NOT a program to install on your computer

Let’s tour the Admin Panel Login by typing wp-admin after your domain

name (e.g. http://example.com/wp-admin) The admin panel of your site is the backend

where you control your site content. The frontend is what visitors to your site see.

Log into WordPress admin panel using your username and password

Let's take a look...

TERMINOLOGY: Understanding Themes Theme - files control how your site looks. Your website

data is safely stored in the database so you can change themes.

A Child Theme - has been built off of another theme. The child inherits from the "parent". You can update a parent theme, your customizations are preserved in the child theme folder. Don't delete the parent theme!

A Premium Theme- is a theme that you purchase Theme Frameworks- premium themes with extra built-in

interfaces to allow you to modify your site design without editing code files.

Adding a new theme Appearance → Themes → Install Themes ONLY use themes from the repository or reputable

premium themes We can search the WordPress repository and

install right from the admin panel interface! Content is in the database so you can change

themes without entering content again Let’s change the theme…

TERMINOLOGY: Plugins A plugin is an addon code package you can

install to add functionality to your site Search the repository -

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/ or search from the admin panel plugin interface

There are free plugins and premium plugins you purchase

Some Plugins I like… Maintenance Mode Fast Secure Contact Form WordPress SEO by Yoast Backup Buddy (premium plugin) Autonav Image Table Based Site Navigation Portfolio Slideshow Pro (premium plugin) TablePress Grid Columns Dynamic Widgets

TERMINOLOGY: Widgets

WordPress Widgets add content and features to your Sidebars.

Simply drag & drop to add, arrange, and remove widgets in your site's sidebar or other widgetized areas of your theme.

Plugins will often add their own widgets – e.g. Image Widget & Social Media Widget

Let’s look at how widgets work…

TERMINOLOGY: Pages & Posts Pages are for your more static content - they don't

change very often Page Templates - are layouts, such as no sidebar,

depend on the theme Posts

• are entries in your blog (articles, news items)• usually in reverse chronological order, newest on top• typically organized into categories (archive pages)• display meta data: i.e. date, author, tags, categories

Let's look at pages, posts

Tips for artists Choose a clean design so your art is the focus Search Engines need some text – include keyword

search terms in page copy Blog or don’t blog – don’t set one up and abandon it Use a proper mailing list – I recommend MailChimp

• integrates well with WordPress• free for 2,000 subscribers, 12,000 emails/month• send blog posts by RSS feed to mailing list

Q & Eh?Q & Eh?

image used by permission susybee.com

Learning Resources codex.wordpress.org – official documentation wordpress.org/support – forum wordpress.tv – WordCamp videos meetup.wptoronto.com – monthly meetings LearnWP.ca/blog - our blog

Thank You!

Ruth Maude & Dawn ComberLearnWP.ca

facebook.com/LearnWP @2LearnWP