Creating a WordPress Website Oklahoma Conference of The UMC Department of Communications 1

Reasons to use WordPress wordpress.com Cost Quick Convenient Responsive 2

General Terms Domain name Host CMS 3

General Terms Dashboard Theme Plugins 4

Using WordPress.com to Create a Website Host and Domain 5

Setting up a free site Once you submit this form an will be sent to you to complete the registration Type in the name for your website here 6

Free Basic What you get A free WordPress.com address Choose from free themes. Basic customization 3 GB of space No video storage. Community support 7

Login to your account and set up your personal profile information 8

Click on your page to access the dashboard. 9

To set your website title and some of the main settings go to Settings>>General. 10

First - Set up your homepage Click on Pages – Add new Type in Home in the title area IMPORTANT - Click Publish Now add a second page Type in your title Click Publish First - Set up your homepage Click on Pages – Add new Type in Home in the title area IMPORTANT - Click Publish Now add a second page Type in your title Click Publish 11

In settings go to reading Under Front page displays, click on A static page and select your home page for the front page Click save changes at the bottom of the page. In settings go to reading Under Front page displays, click on A static page and select your home page for the front page Click save changes at the bottom of the page. 12

Here a few ideas: Create a welcome message Use images, text, photos that set the tone for your site. Limit the length of the page. Make your homepage beautiful 13

Adding Media Click on the Add Media Button then under upload files click on the select files and choose an image from your computer Click on the button on the bottom right to insert image into your page. Click on the Add Media Button then under upload files click on the select files and choose an image from your computer Click on the button on the bottom right to insert image into your page. 14

Click on update before leaving the page 15

Choose a theme The WordPress Content Management System (CMS) is theme-based which means that you can change designs any time you want. The default theme is installed To activate a theme go to Appearance >>Themes in the left panel menu. 16

Get personality: pick a theme to define the look and feel of your site. 17

Check out the available themes: A theme is a layout and visual look for your website. On your dashboard, head to the Appearance >> Themes menu. Preview how a theme will look by clicking Live Preview. 18

If you like what you see, click Activate Pick the right theme thats right for you: Themes come in a lot of different styles and offer different functions. 19

Add more content with widgets. Choose the widget and drag and drop in sidebar box. 20

Upload a custom header and background: Most themes let you tweak the look of the header and the background. If your site supports custom headers, youll see the option in the Appearance >> Header menu Upload a custom header and background: Most themes let you tweak the look of the header and the background. If your site supports custom headers, youll see the option in the Appearance >> Header menu 21

Embed video to your site Embed a URL from YouTube or Vimeo To quickly embed a YouTube video, copy the videos URL from your web browsers address bar while viewing the video Then, paste the videos URL on its own line in the visual editor, and make sure its not hyperlinked 22

Menus Adding Custom Links Want a menu tab to link directly to another website? No problem! Type in the URL where you want to take someone when they click on it, add Link Text to specify what the tab will say, and then click Add to Menu. Adding Custom Links Want a menu tab to link directly to another website? No problem! Type in the URL where you want to take someone when they click on it, add Link Text to specify what the tab will say, and then click Add to Menu. 23

Menus Changing the order and creating sub-menus At any time, you can change the order and placement of menu items by simply dragging and dropping the items to change their order. 24

To create sub-menus or drop-down style menus, drag individual items to the right to nest them under a given parent tab. You can undo this by dragging them to the left. 25

Add New Links: To add a new link, click on Add New in the Links menu 26

Link Categories You can manage a blogroll (a set of links) using the Links menu in your Dashboard. 27

These links will display on your page if you have added the Links Widget from the Appearance -> Widgets page. 28

To manage link categories, click on Link Categories in the Links menu. To add a new category, use the Add Category form on the left. 29

To modify existing link categories, hover over the category name and then click on the Edit, Quick Edit, Delete, or View options that appear below it. 30

The Links column on the far right shows the number links assigned to each category. 31

Adding Users 32

Important Note about adding new users to your WordPress site Types of Users: Administrator: An administrator has full and complete ownership. Editor: An editor can view, edit, publish, and delete any posts/pages, moderate comments, manage categories, manage tags, manage links and upload files/images. 33

Types of Users: Author: An author can edit, publish and delete their posts, as well as upload files/images. Contributor: A contributor can edit their posts but cannot publish them.. Subscriber: Subscribers only have the ability to leave comments. 34

Adding Users: Go to Users Add New. Your new user will get their password in the with instruction on how to log in. Once logged in they can change their password and any other info by editing their profile. 35

Changing User Roles: 1.Head to Users All Users in your WordPress admin. 2.Check the box(es) next to user avatar(s). 3.Using Change role to… dropdown menu, select the new user role(s) you want to assign. 4.Click Change. 36

Here is our beautiful website, --- well ok maybe not beautiful yet, --- but it is a start and it didnt take very long to create! Here is our beautiful website, --- well ok maybe not beautiful yet, --- but it is a start and it didnt take very long to create! 37

Reading Resources Article on WordPress from UMComm Article Article Using WordPress.com to Create a Website Article Article Getting the Most from WordPress.com Article 38

UM branded templates WordPress Based Unique Domain Name The free package is intended and restricted to local United Methodist churches that currently have a Find-A-Church profile. United Methodist Communications is offering options to local churches 39

Thank you for coming to today. Please feel free to contact us with questions about setting up a Wordpress site. Department of Communications 1501 N.W. 24 th St Oklahoma City, OK