WordPress Workshop Terri Orlowski beyond the office About Terri - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

WordPress Workshop Terri Orlowski beyond the office

About Terri • Founded beyond the office in 2006 • Specialize in WordPress, websites & email marketing templates • Certified Internet Webmaster • Internet Marketing Virtual Assistant • IVAA EthicsCheck Certification • @torlowski • facebook.com/beyondtheoffice

What is WordPress? • “ WordPress is web software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog. We like to say that WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.” (from WordPress.org) • First released on May 27, 2003, by Matt Mullenweg as a fork of b2/cafelog. (Wikipedia) • As of 02/11, WP 3.0 had been downloaded over 32.5 million times. • WordPress is used by over 13% of the 1,000,000 biggest websites.

.com vs. .org WordPress.com WordPress.org • Free • Free (to download) • Custom Domain ($) • Custom domain ($) • Free hosting (limited) • Requires Hosting ($) • Limited Themes • Unlimited Themes • Limited Plugins • Unlimited Plugins • Automatic backups and • Responsible for your own upgrades backups & upgrades • Hosted across servers, • Your-choice hosting* can handle traffic

How to Install WordPress?

One-click installation • Quick & Easy install available from most web hosts  Not all hosts use Fantastico, but most offer some one-click installation option • Good option for non-techies • Not as secure as manual installation • Takes about 3-5 minutes

“Famous 5 Minute Install” • Some technical experience required • Download latest version from WordPress.org • Create MySQL Database & User • Edit wp-config-sample.php • Rename to wp-config.php • Upload WordPress files (FTP or File Manager) • Go to site to activate install script *may take longer than 5 minutes depending on your computer speed and Internet connection

wp-config.php • DB_NAME (line 19) • DB_USER (line 22) • DB_PASSWORD (line 25) • DB_HOST (line 28) • Authentication Unique Keys & Salts (lines 45 - 52) – https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/salt/ • Table Prefix (line 63)

WordPress Security • Remove or neuter the • Security Plugins admin account • Be choosy about • Non-default table prefix theme & plugin sources • Hide version & • File permissions Generator meta tag • Regular Updates • Move wp-config.php • Strong Password • Good Host • .htaccess in /wp-admin • Regular Backups

Plugins - Security • Semisecure Login Reimagined • User Locker • WP Security Scan • WP Optimize – use to rename admin account & remove post revisions to decrease db size • WordPress File Monitor • Akismet (Bad Behaviour, Spam Karma, Disqus) • SEO Ultimate – (404 monitor) • Bluetrait Event Viewer (BTEV) • Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC)

Plugins - Backup • WP DB Backup • WordPress Backup by BTE • Backup Buddy ($)

Plugins – Other Useful Stuff • Gravity Forms ($) • Google XML Sitemaps • Sexy Bookmarks • WordPress Editorial Calendar • WP Google Analytics • WPtouch (free or $) • All in One Webmaster (free or $) • Broken Link Checker • Simple URLs

Plugins • Where to find plugins? – http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins – IVAANet (ask for recommendations) • What are your favorite plugins?

What about themes? • StudioPress • ithemes • WooThemes • ElegantThemes • Frameworks – Thesis – Genesis – Headway • wordpress.org/extend/themes (free, use with caution)

WordPress for Podcasting • Simple – link to an audio file from a post • Podpress plugin • PowerPress by blubrry.com

WordPress for Newsletter • WordPress/Feedburner – Add a new category (ie Newsletter) – Exclude this category from Category list – Exclude regular blog posts from newsletter category – Create new feed in Feedburner for your category – Enable email subscriptions in Feedburner for that feed – Get code from Feedburner for subscription & put it in a widget – Enable full text feeds in WordPress Settings – Publish post in newsletter category and let Feedburner take care of the rest

WordPress for Newsletter • Use RSS feed option with your favorite mail service (MailChimp, Aweber) • Get code for signup box and put it in a widget, page or post on your site – MailChimp List Subscribe Form plugin – Gravity Forms Pro add-on plugin for MailChimp – Aweber Web Form Plugin

WordPress for Newsletter • ALO EasyMail Newsletter – Track/manage subscribers in WordPress – Can send to additional email addresses – Merge tags available for subscriber names, post titles, excerpts, etc. – Can create HTML or plain-text email messages – Scheduled sending – Reports and stats

How do you use WordPress? • Website • Invoicing • Blog • Newsletter • Video Blog • Photo Blog • Podcast • Business Directory • News Site • Contact Manager • Membership Site • Online Job Portal • Social Networking Site • Online Classifieds • Project Management • FAQ Portal • E-commerce • Ticket System • Forums • Wiki • Article Directory • Digg Clone

• Questions? • Comments? • Tips? • Suggestions?

Thank you! WordPress Workshop Terri Orlowski, beyond the office terri@beyondtheoffice.com @torlowski facebook.com/beyondtheoffice beyondtheoffice.com/summit11