WordPress Training Day

Class Resources and Links

Introduction to WordPress Workshop Description:

Learn a high-level overview of why and how to build a WordPress website with discussion about tools, resources and important considerations for your website.

You will learn:

The difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org
The upsides and downsides of WordPress
An overview of the WordPress dashboard and important settings
Where to buy a WordPress theme and what the best themes are
How to add / edit widgets
How to install a plugin
How to make a blog post and use the WordPress editor
How to create a page
How to add a page to the navigation
How to use custom theme settings and layout builder tools to make beautiful pages without code
Brief introduction to search engine optimization

What are the requirements?

Basic computer skills (uploading/downloading, copy/pasting)
No prior experience with WordPress, coding or website building

What to Bring

A computer or laptop with a charger (this class might last longer than your battery will)
A web browser and Internet access via Wi-Fi
A mouse is highly recommended (there will be a lot of scrolling and moving around, which is easier with a mouse than a track pad)
If you have a WordPress website already, bring your login information for the dashboard (and any other website or online marketing accounts you have such as social media).
If you want to start building your WordPress website, you will need to purchase basic website hosting at Bluehost.com or another web hosting platform.

We will be going over the Enfold WordPress theme, which is a $60 premium third party designer WordPress theme. You need not purchase this specific theme, but we will be discussing why buying a premium theme will save you loads of time. You can decide later if you want to use a free theme or a paid theme.

Tips, resources, and important links for our training.

Website Hosting:

Bluehost: http://www.bluehost.com

To watch a video about purchasing hosting from Bluehost, click here: http://youtu.be/UlV9DDWAjHg

WordPress Login

Normal WordPress login page:
www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin

(We removed this login and plugin information until the next class)

WordPress Resources

Websites that have WordPress Tips, Tricks, Plug-in Reviews, etc.

WordPress Documentation – http://codex.wordpress.org

WPMUDEV – https://premium.wpmudev.org/blog

WP Beginner – http://www.wpbeginner.com

iThemes – https://ithemes.com/blog

Bizzy Bizzy – https://bizzybizzycreative.com/blog

Best WordPress Resources:

WordPress User Manual (a bit outdated)

Backing up Your WordPress Website

Updating Your Website

10 Things to Do After Your Website Launch

WordPress Security: Important Things to Know

WordPress Keyboard Shortcuts

Grow Your SEO: Search Engine Concepts Even Your Grandma Could Understand

Additional One-on-One Training or WordPress Support

Bizzy Bizzy offers one-on-one WordPress training.

Best WordPress Themes & Theme Repositories

Theme Forest

http://themeforest.net

The best WordPress Theme we have ever discovered: Enfold

Divi Theme Demos: http://www.elegantthemes.com/demo/?theme=Divi

Elegant Themes – 80 themes

http://www.elegantthemes.com

WPMUDEV

http://premium.wpmudev.org/projects/category/themes

iThemes

https://ithemes.com

WordPress Plugins

Most WordPress plug-ins are free for use, but others have paid options. Use your own judgment when vetting plug-ins and installing them on your website. Make sure they have been recently updated and have lots of downloads.

Ecommerce & Fundraising:

Woocommerce

The most popular e-commerce plug-in for WordPress with hundreds of extensions to make your online shop flexible and powerful.

http://www.woothemes.com/woocommerce

Fundraising

Adds the ability to do crowd funding and fund raising on your website.

https://premium.wpmudev.org/project/fundraising

Contact Forms

Gravity Forms

[license key needed]

Powerful form builder that has a drag and drop interface and options without have to look at code.

Personal License – $39

Developer License – $199

http://www.gravityforms.com

Contact Form 7

FREE form builder with good support to build standard contact forms.

https://wordpress.org/plugins/contact-form-7

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Plug-Ins

WordPress SEO by Yoast

Helps you optimize your WordPress website for search engines

https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo

Backing Up Your WordPress Website Plug-Ins

WordPress Backup to Dropbox

Just choose a day, time and how often you wish your backup to be performed and kick back and wait for your websites files and a SQL dump of its database to be dropped in your Dropbox!

Free!

https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-backup-to-dropbox

Backup Buddy

Back up 2 sites – $80 / yr

Back up unlimited sites – $150 / yr

https://ithemes.com/purchase/backupbuddy