WordPress in 10 Steps

1. WordPress in 10 Steps Mari Kane, WordPress Consultant @blogsitestudio From the series, Create a WordPress Website blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

2. WordPress in 10 Steps • Domain Name Registration • Find Web Host • Install a Theme • Add Essential Plugins • Build a Site • Write a Blog Post • Connect Social Media • Search Engine Optimization • Monetize • Site Maintanence blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

3. Step 1: Domain Name Registration Choose a Domain Name • A memorable name • A Top Level domain blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

4. 1. A recognizable and memorable domain name • Choose a name that’s short, catchy, authoritative, unique, and hard to mistype  • Avoid hyphenation blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

5. Brand Names • Eponymous. Your name could be your brand if it’s easy to remember and spell • Create a new word like, “Google” • Use a portmanteau. Combine two words like, Rebelmouse, Linkedin, Meetup, or Blogsite blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

6. Keyword Names • Find keywords that rank well on search engines • Be sensitive to pluralities. When in doubt, register both • Use geography. If you’re local, use the name of your city or state blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

7. 2. Top Level Domain • Top Level Domains are .com, .net, and .org • .com is Main Street. The rest are backroads • Country code domains like, .ca or .uk, limits your brand to that country blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

8. Cybersquatted Domains • Consult Whois.net for availability • If your must-have, .com domain name is taken, offer to buy it • Paying is better than settling for a low level domain blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

9. Domain Registration • Retail prices start at $7.50 per year • Registrars often drop the price with a web hosting services • Register your domain for a minimum of three years • Be aware of scams. Read 10 Things You Must Know Before You Register a Domain Name With Anyone at domainwarning.com blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

10. ??????? blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

11. Step 2: Find a Web Host What’s the difference between WordPress.com and Wordpress.org? • WordPress.com is free but functionally limited, and you must pay for upgrades • WordPress.org costs a flat amount, and the possibilities are limitless blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

12. What you want from Host Services • Support – 24/7 via phone, email, or chat • Cpanel - short for Control Panel, where you install WordPress, configure email, manage domains, access files and more • Unlimited Domains– freedom to create more sites in the future at no extra cost blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

13. Choosing Web Hosting • Consult Find My Hosting which compares top 10 web hosts in North America • Expect to pay $4-10 per month for a 3-year package with unlimited domains on a shared server • Avoid extras –themes, SEO and backup can be done by you with free plugins and themes blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

14. Domain Redirect • Host welcome email has your domain name server (DNS) numbers ns113x.hostgator.com
 ns113x.hostgator.com • Login to domain registrar’s Cpanel and enter these numbers in the proper place • It can take up to 72 hours for the DNS to propagate but usually happens in a few hours. blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

15. ??????? blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

16. Step 3: Install a Theme Choosing a theme is like buying a house • Free themes are fixer uppers requiring ongoing investment of time and money$0 • Premium themes are move in-ready houses, with special rooms prepped for renovation $40 • Custom theme are parcels of land where you’ll build the house from scratch $2,000 + Know your budget for time and money! blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

17. About Themes • All themes are created differently • Free themes are available in the WordPress Directory at Appearances>Themes>Install • Free themes often lack sophisticated functions like logo upload, multiple menus, portfolios and other custom posts • But they are Free! blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

18. Premium Themes • Premium themes are often designed for a niche or industry, like real estate, music, photography, education • Most premium themes are screened and sold through directories, like Themeforest • Premium themes have demos to show its templates and some include video tutorials • A Premium theme sells for $25 – $125 blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

19. Joys of Premium Themes • Support – seek authors who offer help you on their Support Forum • Theme Options – a set of pages that allow you to customize the theme without resorting to code • Responsive themes – will rearrange elements to fit the device it’s being viewed on • Retina display – higher pixel density invented by Apple for the IPhone, IPod touch, IPad and MacBookPro blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

20. The Right Choice • Don’t be dazzled by flashy features • Choose your theme based on your level of experience and online needs • Beginners – start with free themes and play with lots of them • Experienced users – be realistic in about needs and goals, spend according to budget • Don’t waste money on too much functionality blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

21. ??????? blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

22. Step 4: Add Essential Plugins • Plugins are for pages • Widgets are for sidebars • Both come through the pluginuploader • Widgets are always described as “widgets” blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

23. Choosing Plugins • Compatible with your WordPress version • Recently updated within the past year • Highly rated with at least four stars • Widely downloaded • Favorably commented in support forums • Not known for conflicts blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

24. Essential Plugins • Maintenance Mode - the first plugin you need to install is one that will cloak your site while you build it • Jetpack – a suite of plugins with traffic Stats, Subscriptions, Publicize and Sharing and more • Backup – Even an empty site needs backing up • Akismet – kills comment spam dead blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

25. ??????? blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

26. Step 5: Build a Site • First – Don’t panic!!!!! It’s hard to break the theme, and when you do, your data is safe. WordPress also saves your Revisions if you mess up • Second – familiarize yourself with the Dashboard’s navigation menu, like chests of drawers. blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

27. WordPress Navigation blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

28. Settings>General • Your Site Title gets entered in title case, as does your Tagline, (or slogan) • Don’t muck with URLs. • Change your email as needed. • Disallow membership registration blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

29. Settings>Reading • Establish what the home page shows • Blog is the default • To make your Home page Static, go to Pages>Add New and create two pages: Home and Blog • At Settings>Reading, set “A Static Page,” then select “Home” and “Blog” in the dropdown menus blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

30. Reading Settings blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

31. Settings>Permalinks • Permalinks dictate how your URL is structured • Choose your format and don’t change them! • Once posts proliferate, 404 Errors occur when a page’s permalink is changed • Most people use the Post Name option blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

32. Permalink Settings blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

33. Screen Options • Check the Screen Options in the top right corner of your browser. • Screen Options are on your Post and Pages, and on the dashboards and it allows you to increase the options viewed. blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

34. Screen Options blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

35. User Profile • Where you set how your name is seen publicly • If your username is set as “admin”, it will attract brute force attacks. Change it • Open a new Administrator profile. Log out of “admin” and into new profile. Delete the old “admin” account • Fill in your first and last name, and select a version of your names in the drop-down menu. • That setting will appear in the Author dropdown on your posts and pages. • You can also change your password in Your Profile. blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

36. User Profile blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

37. Settings Discussion • You have already disallowed registration in Settings>General • Now, go to go to Settings>Discussion and make your choice on how you want people to comment blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

38. Logo • In Appearances>Header, upload your gif or jpeg or png file, and tweak • Or upload a logo in your Theme Options under Header • Lacking a logo, the Title and Tagline in Settings>General will populate your header blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

39. Pages • Add text to your static Home page • Don’t touch “Blog” page; it populates when you add Posts • Go to Pages>Add New. Create “About, Contact, Products” pages using keywords • Copy and paste your text into the Edit box • Click on the Kitchen Sink tool to see formatting tools • Pull down formatting and add H2 and H3 tags • Note the difference between Visual and Text. Text is in code blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

40. Edit Page blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

41. Posts • Pages are static • Posts appear in reverse chronological order • Editing Posts is the same as Pages • Posts contain Categories and Tags – important to the organization of your content blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

42. Categories • Categories rule your content and corral stories, so readers can find related information • For a music site, some categories might be “Rock, Jazz, Classical, Hip-Hop” • Categories and Tags can be added on Edit Post page, or at Post>Categories, and Post>Tags • Remember: with WordPress, there are at least two methods of accomplishing the same task blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

43. Categories Page blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

44. Tags • Tags are more specific than categories • On a music site they might include “guitar, piano, Jay Z, Coachella” • Most Used Tags collect in a tag cloud for easy of re-use blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

45. Tags Page blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

46. Media Manager blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

47. Menus • Organize your Menu or WordPress will add every pages to the navigation bar • Go to Appearance>Menus. Create a new menu and activate • Add menu items by checking Posts, Pages, Categories, and Tags • If you change themes, Menus are the only thing to adjust blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

48. Menu Page blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

49. ??????? blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/

50. Step 6: Write a Blog Post • Inform and Entertain • Write what you know or what you want to know about • Write in a snappy or humorous tone • Never be boring • Only use cultural references when they are universal or super relevant to your niche blogsitestudio.com/category/create-a-wordpress-website/