P ACKING A P UNCH WITH W ORD P RESS Kathleen Pequeño

H OSTED W ORD P RESS AND W ORD P RESS. COM WordPress.com is: Faster to deploy (literally minutes) Just need to create a WordPress.com account Easy to migrate to a standalone WordPress website Allows some themes Does not allow plugins (but comes with Jetpack) WordPress.com maintains its own security

H OSTED W ORD P RESS AND W ORD P RESS. COM Self-hosted WordPress Fast to deploy, but not as fast You need a host (additional cost) Full access to plugin and theme world, including Google Analytics and many things well discuss today Must perform your own ongoing support, security and backups

T HE T OUR B EGINS Im going to log into a clients website You can log into your own WordPress website, or if you have created a WordPress.com blog, you can log in there.

W ORD P RESS D ASHBOARD Generally, I only use Dashboard to refer to the landing page upon login. (All other pages I refer to as in the admin area.) Menus are along the left (and non-admins can hide them if they find it distracting) Use Screen Options

L IMIT E ACH U SER TO W HAT THEY N EED Help people set up their screen options sitewide to guide them Remember that any admin user has complete control over the site – have at least two, but not too many Give them a Google Analytics Widget Other fun dashboard widgets?

POSTS VERSUS PAGES – IS YOUR SITE ORGANIZED CORRECTLY? Posts are the most flexible content – can be grouped into categories using the native environment Pages are for things that dont change much, and when they are not, its not news. You should have more posts than pages. What do your users expect to find on the home page?

SHARE-TIME Who here has done a key audience list? Who wants to share their navigation?

Remember your key audiences – give them what they want and let them go

Y OUR M EDIA L IBRARY The standard WordPress library has improved considerably over the last year. (Especially with Jetpack.) Think ahead about how big your media library will become – give pics and PDFs searchable names, and dont upload too many large files Do you need a Content Delivery Network? (CDN) -- maybe, if you have many visitors and your site needs to speed up.

T HEMES There are thousands of usable themes – consider a commercial theme Phrases to look for as you shop: Cross-browser tested Responsive Theme Options Updates? Is there a support forum?

WHERE TO GET THEMES? Find themes at: Theme Forest Woo Themes Who has found a theme they like?

T HEMES, P ART T WO : M ENUS This comes back to our earlier discussion of posts and pages: does your menu navigation include the right items to get users to what they want quickly? Many themes support multiple menus You can use static pages, categories or popular posts. – Use the full range of options.

T HEMES, P ART T HREE : W IDGETS Widgets give you all manner of options – for your sidebars, footers, and some themes allow them in the main content area. Many plugins create widgets. Why widgets? Social Media promotion Contact info Maps/Calendars Promoting a specific post

P LUGINS My favorites are listed in: Google Analyticator Broken Links Checker Jetpack Woo Dojo

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN PLUGINS How many downloads? Tested for latest version of WordPress? How many versions are there? A well-maintained plugin will have many versions. Is there a lively support forum? What would I do if this plugin were never updated again? How would it affect my website?

KEEP LEARNING WordPress Codex – create an account! How Users Read On the Web: Dont Make Me Think (book) My Small Advice: advicehttp://kathleenpequeno.com/small- advice Smashing WordPress (book)

FINAL WORDS? Please fill in your evaluations.