Today I am running the following workshop at AIM Conference in Halifax:
Getting Started with WordPress
In this session, we’ll briefly go over why WordPress is a great choice. We’ll dive into setting up your own WordPress web site step-by-step, from ordering your web hosting to publishing your first page. We’ll explore buying beautiful, well-built themes and how to install them. We’ll navigate the overgrown jungle that is WordPress plugins and discover a few you absolutely must have. This is a workshop, not a formal presentation, so I’ll be more of a tour guide than a presenter. I’ll try keep the acronyms and techno babble to a minimum. You’ll be encouraged to ask questions throughout the session by voicing them or thumbing them to Twitter.
The following are my notes for the session. There are no slides.
Tweet your questions, comments, etc to me @bradt. Don’t forget to also tag your Tweets #aimhalifax so everyone can see them.
Download Counter
Excellent UI. WYSIWYG sucks less than most. Easy to use. Automattic support.
WordPress Site Counter
~30 million self-hosted WordPress sites
phpFog & Pagoda Box
Cloud hosting that supports WP.
My Article: Stop complaining about $4 web hosting
Cheap web hosting sucks.
Zenutech Web Hosting
My web hosting company. 1-click install of WordPress.
Post-Install Checklist:
- General Settings: Update tagline and timezone
- Discussion Settings: Turn comments on/off
- Permalinks: “Month and name” is a good option for SEO-friendly links
- Appearance: Settings depend on theme
- Change home page to a content page instead of a list of posts.
Install a theme through WP’s built-in directory.
Install a theme from a download.
Quality Themes:
Quality Plugins:
- Akismet – prevent comment SPAM
- Disqus & IntenseDebate – comments with social features
- WordPress SEO – define all your title tags, generates Google XML Sitemap, etc
- Google Analytics for WordPress – essential for Google Analytics
- bbPress – forum plugin
- BuddyPress – turns WP into a social networking site
- WPTouch – adds a mobile-friendly version of your site
- WordTwit – automatically send tweets
- ProPhoto – excellent plugin for photographers
- JetPack – bundle of useful plugins from Automattic
- Gravity Forms – build forms without any coding
- JigoShop & WooCommerce – online store plugins
- AddThis – add sharing features to your posts
- Events Calendar – great calendar plugin
- Backup Buddy – backup, restore, and migrate
- ScribeSEO – helps you write content that is more search engine friendly
- WPML – for multilingual sites
- Subscribe to Comments – allows your commenters to subscribe to email notifications of follow up comments
- W3 Total Cache – speeds up your WP site
Most of these plugins can be found in WP’s built-in plugin directory.