1. …for beginners Part 1

2. Logistics Thurs 8/11 & 8/18, 7-10PM Greenwood Center 525 N 85 th St class website (& slides): http://jonpeck.net/http://jonpeck.net/ Rec. read: WordPress for Dummies (link on website)WordPress for Dummies free eBook: Getting Started with WordPressGetting Started with WordPress Quick survey: – Who works in IT? Other fields? – Programming experience? – Built a website before? Using what? – Ever used WordPress or another CMS? – Brought a laptop today? Tablet? (next time if can) – Purpose of the website(s) you want to build?

3. Disclaimers, etc I… – am a programmer & a consultant; WP is one of the many tools in my toolbox – am not all-knowing or perfect; I’ll tell you what I know, and tell you when I don’t know – am available for consultation (cost varies), but my goal is to make you able to run your own site You – should ask me lots of questions! – will get occasionally frustrated/lost; that’s normal, but tell me if you do – will get the most out of this course if you build a site while we’re learning (even if you scrap it later)

4. Course Roadmap Internet Basics, wp.org Hosting Dashboard, Administration Posts vs Pages Editing: rich- vs HTML; Drafts/Visibility/Pubdate Navigation, Parents, Order Media library (& links to) Comments Settings: title/tagline, etc – Permalinks – Homepage / posts page Header & Background img User management Import/Export Widgets Themes: find, customize – WP Theme Detector WP Theme Detector Plugins – SEO, videos, music/audio – E-Commerce, PayPal – shortcodes, inserting PHP iOS/Tablet apps

5. WordPress is a Content Management System… but what can you do with it? “WordPress powers 23% of the internet” - w3techsw3techs http://www.washington.edu (yep, really!) http://www.washington.edureally http://pippasrealtea.com/ (online sales, shipping, etc) http://pippasrealtea.com/ http://classesandworkshops.com (class listings / sales) http://classesandworkshops.com http://solopracticeuniversity.com (online courses, profession-based social networking) http://solopracticeuniversity.com http://www.hmag.com (e-zine, event listings, advertising) http://www.hmag.com http://www.clouds365.com (photo & video gallery) http://www.clouds365.com more at wordpress.org/showcase

6. Why WordPress? NOT JUST BLOGS! Easy to add/edit content Edit from anywhere via web browser Lots of plugins ( extensions ) & themes ( templates ) Easy to change look while retaining content Very flexible and constantly improving Why not WordPress? Complexity (but not as bad as you might think) Takes a little getting-used-to Potential hacking target (I’ll show how to guard)

7. Case Study Conversion from plain-old-HTML to WordPress Addition of SEO and other tools Immediate and dramatic improvements: – twice as many visitors over last 6 months – 8x increase in length-of-stay during first week, settled down to 38% permanent improvement – 40% decrease in bounce rate (visitors who leave) in first week, settled down to 7.5% decrease – the real benefit: 35% increase in gross income

8. Case Study

9. Internet Basics What is the Internet? What is a Webserver? IPs & Domain Names jonpeck.com=69.89.7.252 cutoncefilms.com=69.89.7.252 google.com=173.194.33.2 yahoo.com=98.138.253.109 jonpeck.com=69.89.7.252 cutoncefilms.com=69.89.7.252 google.com=173.194.33.2 yahoo.com=98.138.253.109 173.194.33.2 1.2.3.4 5.6.7.8 98.138.253.109 69.89.7.252

10. Hosting – dedicated vs shared (VPS, cloud) 69.89.7.252 jonpeck.com cutoncefilms.com ….. jonpeck.com index.html one.html two.html art.gif

11. Static content (text & files) somewebsite.com index.html one.html two.html art.gif database (MySql) code (PHP) transient pages -request Dynamic content (code & databases) VS

12. WordPress.org vs WordPress.com WordPress.org - provides software that you put on your own server (aka “host”); slightly more complexity but also more extensibility (plugins, etc) WordPress.com - uses a modified (crippled) version of that same software, but running on their own servers: you use their server Both are free, but… – WordPress.org: you need server (usu. $4-20/month) – WordPress.com: but $99/yr to remove ads, allow custom domain, enable theme editing, etc$99/yr For anything more than basic blogging, I’d recommend WordPress.org

13. Web Hosting – Once, it was hard to set up WP on your own server, connect your domain name, etc – But not there are a lot of hosting companies with turnkey WP solutions: sign up, pick a domain name, select WordPress as your app; they do all the setup! – HOMEWORK: select a hosting provider and set up your first website (or install it on your current host)! Unsure if you’ll stick around? Pick a month-to- month plan or one with a refund policy

14. Getting your own Web Hosting: info at http://jonpeck.net/hostinghttp://jonpeck.net/hosting RECOMMENDED: SiteGround (very fast, 10GB is plenty)SiteGround $4-15/mo, free domain name, free website transfer discounts with this link: http://bitly.com/hostme14http://bitly.com/hostme14 30-day money-back guaranteemoney-back PREMIUM: WP Engine (even faster, fully managed)WP Engine $30-250/mo, version control, staging area, service-level agreement Completely focused on WordPress hosting Some plugin restrictions (things that conflict w/ their own backups, etc) Check them out here: http://bitly.com/hostwpe2016http://bitly.com/hostwpe2016

15. Do This Now / Demo: Get hosting and have them set up WordPress How easy is this? 5-minute WordPress install…

22. Course Roadmap Internet Basics, wp.org Hosting Dashboard, Administration Posts vs Pages Editing: rich- vs HTML; Drafts/Visibility/Pubdate Navigation, Parents, Order Media library (& links to) Comments Settings: title/tagline, etc – Permalinks – Homepage / posts page Header & Background img User management Import/Export Widgets Themes: find, customize – WP Theme Detector WP Theme Detector Plugins – SEO, videos, music/audio – E-Commerce, PayPal – shortcodes, inserting PHP iOS/Tablet apps

23. The Dashboard The administration panel (“dashboard”) is usually at http://[yourwebsite.com]/ wp-admin The “admin bar” tells you what site you are editing, and who you are (rollover your name to logout) A different version of this bar appears when you are visiting your own site (if you are logged in). “Screen Options” changes which items are shown on the current screen of the Dashboard. “Help” is context-specific, providing info about the current Dashboard screen. The left-Navigation provides access to specific features of WordPress. Each one has its own sub-menu… we’ll get into the specifics in just a bit. The Content Pane has info about your site’s status… how many pages you have, etc. This Pane changes depending on what part of the left-Navigation you have just clicked on.

24. Do This Now / Demo: On your site: – Add the plugin called “WordFence” (demo) 1.Plugins > add new > serach “wordfence” 2.Install > activate > continue 3.Click “download htacces” > continue

25. Do This Now / Demo: On your site: – Turn off Comments (demo) 1.Settings > discussion 2.Uncheck “Allow people to post comments on new articles” > save 3.Posts > mouseover “Quick Edit” > Uncheck “allow comments” > update 4.Pages> mouseover “Quick Edit” > Uncheck “allow comments” > update

26. Do This Now / Demo: On your site: – Change site Title & Tagline 1.Settings > General – Change your PermaLink style (demo) 1.Settings > Permalinks (“post name”) – Start looking at Themes (demo) 1.Appearance > Themes 2.Add New > search > install/activate 3.Appearance > Themes > activate another one etc

27. User Management Generally, these are people who contribute to and/or manage your site Unique usernames & email addresses Can have one, or many Users, of various levels – Subscriber: has a profile but can’t contribute Useful for knowing your reader base and/or with plugins – Contributor: create posts, but not publish An Editor would approve (publish) their drafts – Author: can publish their own posts – Editor: can create/manage any post or page – Administrator: can do everything (& add/del Users)

28. Export: text content only, not images/themes/etc - for better exports, use Duplicator or BackupBuddy - good webhosts like SiteGround keep automatic backupsDuplicatorBackupBuddySiteGround keep automatic backups

29. FYI: Android/iPhone/iPad app

30. Course Roadmap Internet Basics, wp.org Hosting Dashboard, Administration Posts vs Pages Editing: rich- vs HTML; Drafts/Visibility/Pubdate Navigation, Parents, Order Media library (& links to) Comments Settings: title/tagline, etc – Permalinks – Homepage / posts page Header & Background img User management Import/Export Widgets Themes: find, customize – WP Theme Detector WP Theme Detector Plugins – SEO, videos, music/audio – E-Commerce, PayPal – shortcodes, inserting PHP iOS/Tablet apps