WordPress.com is seeing growing adoption in schools. One of the colleges that we work with is making it a core part of their program's curriculum. All students are required to start a WordPress blog and maintain it over their three year program. We were asked to speak with these students, so we prepared this presentation - a fast-track crash course to introduce beginners to what WordPress.com has to offer.

1. A Crash Course
in WordPress.com

2. Who Am I?
Andy McIlwain
- Graduate, Advertising program @ SLC ‘09
- Communications @ WPUniversity.com
- Co-Organizer, Toronto WordPress Group
- Organizer, WordCamp Toronto 2011-2013
- 6+ years of experience with WordPress
- Inbound Marketing & Web Strategy

3. What is WordPress?
- Content Management System (CMS)
- Open Source Software & Free To Use
- Manage Posts, Pages, & Media (e.g.
Images)
- Add features with plugins
- Customize appearance with themes

4. WordPress.org vs WordPress.com
WordPress.org
- Standalone software.
- Requires hosting & a
domain name.
- Lets you use themes
and plugins.
- Complete control.
- Requires more
technical knowledge.
WordPress.com
- Service built with
WordPress software.
- Don’t need to buy
hosting or a domain to
use WordPress.com.
- Free and premium
themes available.
- Can’t install plugins.

5. Great to start with WordPress.com
- Don’t worry about technical stuff.
- Dedicated customer service team.
- Get found thanks to a large community.
- Lots of customization available.
- Lots of features built in.
- You can move to self-hosted later if you want.

6. Why does WordPress matter?
- Powers approx. 20% of the web*, market
share is continuously rising.
- The go-to CMS for marketing sites, blogs,
publishers, media companies.
- Opportunity for freelancing and taking on side
projects for additional income.
*Source: VentureBeat http://venturebeat.com/2013/07/27/19-percent-of-the-webruns-on-wordpress/

7. Your WordPress.com Account
https://en.wordpress.com/settings/account/
Controls your...
- Account Options
- Security Options
- Public Profile (Gravatar.com), used for
avatars and your bio on WordPress.com
- Billing Preferences

8. Using WordPress.com
Posts: Use subheadings for easy skimming. Use images
for appeal. Images also get picked up when your posts are
shared on social media (e.g. LinkedIn and Facebook).
Post Categories: Like sections in a newspaper.
Post Tags: Keywords related to the post.
Pages: “Reference” content not associated with any given
date. Cannot be categorized or tagged. Consider: About &
Contact page; links to friends and other useful sites/pages.
Media: Upload images to your site. Opportunity for people
to find your stuff via image searches.
Feedback: Where form submissions are held.

9. Blog Sharing Settings
Lots of setting options that can be configured to your
preference. Sharing is important for promotional purposes.
Publicize:
Connect WordPress.com with other social media accounts
to automatically share your posts.
Sharing Buttons:
Also customize the sharing buttons that appear below posts
on your blog. Drag n’ drop the available services into the
order you prefer.

10. Choosing a Theme
- First impressions are everything.
- Consider the purpose of your site. Are you creating a
portfolio for copy or design?
- Choose a theme that does not distract from your
content or portfolio items.
- When looking for a theme: Click “Feature Filter” to
toggle lots of options.

11. Working With Your Theme
Customization
- Customization options vary from theme to theme.
Typically include: Change colour scheme, upload a header
image.
- Consider your personal brand. What impression should
your site make? What fits you?
Mobile Appearance
- Mobile is important! Don’t force visitors to pinch n’ zoom.
- Some themes are responsive (adapt to device).
- You can also use the WordPress.com mobile theme.

12. Working With Menus
- Control your menu. Keep pages organized.
- Letting all pages get added to your menu can
make things confusing for your site visitors.
- Create custom menus for sidebar widgets, e.
g. links to your social media accounts or
projects.

13. Working with Widgets
- Tons of widgets available. Don’t overdo it.
- Consider priority: What is the most important thing for
your visitors to see?
- Consider Calls to Action: What are you asking your
visitors to do? View your profile? Contact you?
- Some widgets from other sites won’t work.
WordPress.com strips out <script></script> code.
- Your widgets may not be visible on mobile devices. It
depends on the theme that you’re using.

14. Upgrading Your Site’s Features
Upgrades available at http://store.wordpress.com
Best bang for the buck: Premium Plan ($110-ish per year),
includes the following upgrades:
- No Ads & Free Domain Registration*
*Or mapping if you already own a domain.
- Custom Design Upgrade (Colours, Fonts, CSS)
- Upload Audio & Video directly to your blog
Not interested in the Premium Plan? Highly recommended:
No Ads, Custom Domain and Custom Design.

15. Why Custom Domain & Design?
Custom Domain (Register a new one or map a current one)
- A non-.wordpress.com domain is much more professional and
shows that you’re willing to make some investment in your
website and brand.
- You can use this domain for the entirety of your career,
establishing control over your online identity and authority.
Custom Design
- Don’t be “just another site” with an out-of-the-box theme.
Customizing fonts, colours, and using a bit of CSS to adjust your
layout can help define your brand and make a good first
impression. Great way to make the most of a free theme!

16. WordPress.com Doesn’t Host Email!
WordPress.com does not provide email
hosting. You’ll need to get email hosting from
another provider.
More information:
● Forwarding email from your custom domain.
● Hooking up a 3rd party email host.

17. Monitoring Your Site Performance
WordPress.com doesn’t support Google Analytics.
Instead, we use WordPress.com Stats. Shows:
- Visitors & Views
- Visitor Locations, Views by Country
- Top Posts & Pages, Categories & Tags
- Referring Sites, Search Terms
- Clicks
- Subscribers, Commenters, Followers
http://wordpress.com/my-stats/

18. Resources
WordPress.com Support Section
http://en.support.wordpress.com/
WordPress.com Forums
http://en.forums.wordpress.com/

19. Any Questions?
Get In Touch!
http://wpuniversity.com
http://twitter.com/wpuni
http://facebook.com/wpuni