An introduction to WordPress for members of the Young Professional Vermonters meetup.com group, by Josh Lee

1. Making Websites with
WordPress
A guide to creating elegant and effective websites with
WordPress, by Josh Lee

2. Why do we have websites?
● To promote a product or service
● To sell things online
● To promote and spread an idea
● To educate and disseminate information
● To have a place to get your message out

3. What makes a website good?
● Compelling, informative content
● An intuitive interface and navigation
● A consistent and professional appearance
● Regular updates
● Exposure via search engines and other
channels

4. What is a CMS?
A content management system is software that
runs on your website and allows privileged
users (such as you, the site owner) to make
changes to content and to create new pages.

5. Why WordPress?
● The user interface is designed for humans.
● The community is enormous.
● It is automatically search-engine friendly,
right out of the box.
● It is free and open source.
● It is the most popular CMS on the planet.

6. WordPress.com
WordPress.com
Hosted by Automattic, tightly controlled, easy to use, and rarely breaks
WordPress.org
Self-hosted on your preferred host or server, completely free for
customization, requires care, attention and maintenance.

7. Alternatives to WordPress
● SquareSpace
● Drupal

8. Let’s install WordPress...
(live demo)

9. WordPress Vocabulary
● Post
● Page
● Category
● Tag
● Media
● Widget
● Plugin
● Theme

10. Pages
Pages are “static.” They are a permanent part of
a website and the date on which they were
published is irrelevant.

11. Posts
Posts are like magazine articles — they are
published on a specific date and “age” through
your website’s archives with time.

12. How to Install a Theme
(live demo)

13. Optimizing your Site

14. Best Practices: Security
● Don’t use the username “admin”
● Use strong passwords
● Use a reputable host
● Use a security plugin for advanced settings
● Avoid the image resizer script “TimThumb”

15. Best Practices: SEO
● Ensure a unique title and meta description
for every page and post
● Avoid broken links and images
● Don’t duplicate content
● Use an SEO plugin for instant feedback and
metadata editing
● Use analytics to track your progress

16. External Tools for SEO:
● Pear Analytics (SEO Analysis)
● Pingdom (Speed Analysis)
● Google Analytics
● Google Insights
● Moz

17. Some great plugins:
● WordPress SEO by Yoast
● iThemes Security (Better WP Security)
● W3TC (Total Cache)
● WooCommerce
● Gravity Forms
● WP Migrate DB

18. How to evaluate a plugin:
● Does it slow down the site?
● Does it have good reviews?
● Does it integrate with other reputable
plugins?
● Has it been around for a while?
● How good is the support? Is it reliable?

19. Where to get themes:
● Theme Forest (if you’re brave)
● WooThemes (great with WooCommerce)
● StudioPress (Genesis Framework)
● iThemes

20. Types of Hosting
● WordPress-specific hosts: WP Engine,
Synthesis, etc.
● Shared hosts: Dreamhost, Blue Host, Go
Daddy
● Dedicated Hosts: Rackspace, Amazon,
Digital Ocean
● Specialized Hosts: Heroku, Pantheon

21. Where to learn more:
● WordPress Codex
● Smashing Magazine
● NetTuts
● Lynda.com

22. Questions?
Josh Lee
(802) 735-2274
www.joshuamlee.com
josh@qccreative.com
@joshleecreates