1.
Is WordPress Right For You?
Using WordPress for your business…as a “blog” or an entire website
2. 10 Tips For WordPress Success
Evaluate whether WordPress is the right choice for you and/or
your business
Familiarize yourself with the role of designers, developers and
programmers.
Learn why “The web is not print.”
Keep your domain registration and hosting passwords where
you can find them!
Make sure that your website hosting supports WordPress
3. 10 Tips For WordPress Success
Be prepared to spend 10-40 hours learning how to useWordPress or
paying someone else for your updates.
Choose a theme that you are wild about and be prepared to live with
it.
Avoid custom-coded sites unless you have very specific needs.
Work with someone who is the right “fit” for your skill level
Understand the difference between WordPress.com and
Wordpress.org.
4. Is WordPress the right choice?
What is WordPress and is it the right choice for you and/or
your business?
WordPress is a Content Management System (CMS) which is
different from an HTML website.
Examples are: Drupal, Joomla, WordPress. They are created
using a different programming language than early websites.
“Free” and “open source” is a relative term. Evaluate your
needs: Time vs. Money?
Is WordPressa Website or a “Blog”? It is both!
5. Who Does What?
Familiarize yourself with the role of
designers, developers and programmers.
1. Designers: Print-orientation, creative use of
type, develop logos, branding. It’s all about art.
2. Developer: Takes the graphic elements and makes
them work on the web.
3. Programmer: Mathematics, high skill level.
6. The Web Is Different!
The web is not print.
Have you done your 10,000 hours yet?
15 years designing/developing 100 websites +
maintenance on another 25
WordPress is based upon php programming
language and utilizes a database for storing content.
7. Where in the world are we?
• Keep your domain registration and hosting passwords where
you can find them!
• Domain registration: (example: https://www.gkg.net)
• Hosting services: (example: www.cruzio.com)
• How do I “Login” to WordPress? (http://santa-cruz-web-
design.com/wp-login.php)
8. Is your hosting WordPress-Friendly?
Make sure that your domain hosting supports
WordPress.
1. Are they offering the latest version of WordPress?
2. Are they too big/too small?
3. Backups? What to they charge to “recover.”?
9. The “overnight” website is a Big Lie
Be prepared to spend 10-40 hours learning how to
use WordPress or paying someone else for your
updates.
1. Are you a latent geek? Enjoy puzzles and have the
patience to figure things out? Does it give you joy?
2. Do you have a specific goal in mind? Fun? Making
money? Fun=Free Making $=$2,000-$5,000
investment.
10. Finding a theme…
Choose a theme that you are wild about and be
prepared to live with it.
1. How many people are using your theme? (3 or
40,000)
2. What kind of documentation is available for your
theme?
11. Watch Out!
Avoid custom-coded sites unless you have very
specific needs.
1. Avoid the question “Can you do this?”
2. Get some advice before spend $/commit to a
specific plan.
12. Be Prepared To Make a Commitment
Work with someone who is the right “fit” for your
skill level or has lots of patience
Work with someone who shares your visual
aesthetics
Try to avoid criticizing what you don’t understand
Websites take time to do correctly
13. Free vs. Paid Hosting
What’s the difference between WordPress.com and
Wordpress.org?
WordPress.com is free but you cannot “brand it”
without paying extra.
It’s expensive to migrate a CMS website. It’s not
just files
14. Logging In + the Dashboard
www.santa-cruz-
web-
design.com/wp-
login.php
15. Themes = fun but Frameworks Are Better
Thousands of themes: Pretty but are they practical?
Typically Frameworks like Thesis have optimized
CSS, HTML, PHP functions, and SEO
Typically has code that’s written with WordPress
standards and best practices
Ease of updating for future releases of WordPress
16. Developing sites with Thesis Framework
34,377 people are using Thesis:
Change background
colors, Columns (2, 3, 4, +)
Easily add new header photo
Change fonts
Examples:
Vacation Rental
Real Estate Advice Site
Musician
Health Professional
SCC Fair Foundation
Hand-Made Soap Ecommerce