WordPress Web

DevelopmentAn introduction to small business site

design using the popular CMS platform.

What We Will Cover• How to brainstorm for a project• How to choose the domain that is best for SEO or

vanity or perhaps both.• How to register for a free WordPress account and

start using that site• How to purchase a domain and install WordPress

on it.• How to customize a self-hosted WordPress • How to add plugins and which ones to use.

What is WordPress?• 48% share of top 100 blogs in the World• Free and open source• Professional paid themes

(themeforest.net)• CMS or Content Management System• Based on PHP and MySQL• Plugin and theme architecture• Categories, tags and permalink structure

Case Use for WordPress

• Site needs updating frequently. • User control of the site is necessary.• Rapid versus custom development.• Easy access to features through plugins

Brainstorm • What does the project need?

• When does it need to be done by?

• How will the general visitor use the site?

• If a customer searches for the site, what keywords would bring them to it?

Domain DecisionsFirst step is to pick a domain:• Choose according to keywords if SEO

is important www.webdesignclassbillings.com

• Choose according to vanity if SEO is not important

www.wdcbillings.com

Domain Decisions Cont.

• Pick both SEO friendly and vanity domains if appropriate

• .coms are the best for SEO value and commercial marketing value

• .net, .co, *.io can be good alternatives to the .com (*.io exotic Indian Ocean)

• Use Fatwallet.com to get good deals on domains

Install WordPress - Free Version

• Register for a free account and choose .wordpress.com extension name

• Click the “Change your blog description or permissions” button to launch the Dashboard.

• Change the site title and slogan• Adjust the time zone settings to UTC-

7

Choose Theme• Click on Appearance on main menu• Browse and select theme (try

searching for keywords like colors or use cases)

• Change pages by deleting generic entry (if necessary) and adding in all the pages for the site in order using 0 base array inside page options

Blogging• Click on posts and delete any generic entries (if

necessary). Click “Add New” button.• Title the post and click tab to go into main body• Notice how the permalink structure generates off

of what was typed as the title (you may want to change these for better SEO)

• Add content in the body, including images and/or videos using both the visual and text editors.

• Choose a category for the post by clicking “Add new category” typing it in and submitting.

Blogging Cont.• Choose tags according to keyword

connections between posts. (Try not to have too many 1-post tags)

• Hit the publish button and go to the website to check out your work.

• Make any necessary edits (revision process is part of any good blog).

Not Custom? No Worry!

• Self hosted WordPress sites allow customization of the entire site code.

• By editing the header.php, footer.php, page.php and post.php files the entire site can be switched around, changed up and customized.

• User accounts can be created so that customers cannot access these core files, but can still interact and add to the content on the site.

Install WordPress – Paid

• Choose domain and make purchase (recommend Godaddy or Bluehost).

• Purchase hosting account. (try Fatwallet Godaddy coupons for great deals on hosting)

• Commercial applications can benefit from premium private servers as they are much less prone to hacking.

Install WordPress – Paid Cont.

• Add domain to the hosting account by launching hosting control panel

• -> hosted domain control panel• -> add domain• -> install in root if first domain in

account, install in named folder if it is subsequent domain.

Wait…Now Install WP• Wait 10-15 minutes for the hosting

account to propagate the domain over to it.

• Now choose the WordPress install option on the control panel.

• Fill in the details including:• Name of domain to install on• Username and password• Hit install

Congratulations!• WordPress should install in about 20-

30 minutes.

CustomizeWordPress• Dig into the code by clicking on Appearance

and then on Editor• Here are all the PHP files that comprise the

site• Change the footer by clicking on footer.php

and making additions to the code.• Change the header in header.php and so on…• Add plugins and remove the garbage plugins

that come with the install (Godaddy’s, WordPress welcome, Hello Dolly).

How To Add Plugins• Click on “Plugins” and then on “Add new”• Search for the function that you want to

achieve “slideshows” “widgets” etc.. Or search by the name of the plugin.

• Check star ratings to make sure you have the right plugin.

• Be wary of installing unrated plugins or too many plugins as either of these can cause crashing and unintended consequences.

Popular Plugins• Contact Form 7 – solid contact form

creator• Limit Login Attempts – protects blogs

from brute force attacks• SEO Yoast – best search engine

optimization plugin on the market and it’s free!

• Exclude pages – adds checkbox to pages that easily toggles them in and out of the main menu.

What We Covered• How to brainstorm for a project• How to choose the domain that is best for

SEO or vanity or perhaps both.• How to register for a free WordPress

account and start using that site• How to purchase a domain and install

WordPress on it.• How to customize a self-hosted WordPress • How to add plugins and which ones to use.

Questions?

Jophiel – SkyPoint Studios

#1 & #2 for SEO Billings