It’s a blog. it’s a website.

It’s a Blog. It’s a Website.
It’s Marketing…
It’s WordPress!
A beginner’s guide on why to use and how to use
WordPress
Dr. Richard F. Gaspar, Professor of Mass Communications
Hillsborough Community College
TheHawkeye@hccfl.edu
http://Hawkmedia.me
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What we will be discussing:
• The difference between Blogs and Sites
• Wordpress
– Why it is useful
– A glance at how it works
– Steps to get started
CssFounder.com | Website For Everyone
http://cssfounder.com
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It’s A Blog: Examples
Sample Category Section A Standard Post

Why use a blog?
• Communicate
– More insight
• Allows your readers to give feedback
– Learn more about reader’s wants/needs
– Provides ideas for blog content and direction
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It’s A Website
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How does a Website differ
from a Blog?
• Traditional Websites:
– A set of ‘static’ pages
• Content does not change
often (or at all)
– Tends to be more sales
oriented
– Typically does not offer a
way to interact with its
visitors
– Often needs a web
designer to make even
minor changes or additions
• Traditional Blog:
– Fresh Content, changes often
• Newest posts appear highest
on the page
– Tends to share insights and
ideas
– Typically offers a space to
post comments and continue
the conversation
– Offers ability to add content
quickly
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Wouldn’t it be great to combine the
benefits of both a site and a blog
into one full featured solution?
Each offers valuable information and
compliments the other
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It’s Wordpress
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WordPress.com (Hosted by Wordpress) WordPress.org (Self-Hosted)

What is Wordpress?
• Created as a Blog Software, in 2003
• Open Source (free) application
– Lots of developers came together and
volunteered their experience
– Lots of folks continue to create additional tools
and add-ons (i.e. themes and plugins)
– Anyone can use this software free of charge
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Uncovering the Hidden Advantages
• Wordpress let’s you add web pages, not just
blog posts
– This allows you to build your site and blog with
one toolset
• You can maintain your site, yourself, without a
designer
– Easy to add new pages, video, images…
• Search Engines (like Google) love Blogs
– Fresh, relevant, original content is important
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It’s a Marketing Tool
• Gets the word out: Distribution/Syndication
– Your posts are instantly sent to the world with RSS
• Allows search engines to receive notice of new content
– Gets you ranked higher, quicker
– People find you easier
• Allows visitors to receive future posts automatically
• Offers interaction with your community
• People can post comments
• Helps you understand what they want and gives ideas for
future posts
• Provides more exposure for your E-newsletters
• Feature articles can be referenced in emails and linked to a
post online
– Brings email readers to your site
– Allows new site visitors to see what you’ve written about
– And articles are syndicated for you with RSS
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Extending Reach of Email Marketing
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Example A:
Email
Newsletter Example B:
Feature Article
Teaser in email
Example C:
Full Feature Article
As it appears on site
Example D:
RSS Feed Reader

A Look at the Software’s Backend:
WP-Admin and The Dashboard
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^ Example B:
Dashboard Overview
- Content Management
< Example C:
Write a Post
– Visual Editor

A look at Writing Content
• The administrative section is where the pages
and posts are prepared
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Preparation of Page
Page Presentation to Visitors

Overview: Why Use Wordpress?
• Changing Your Content
is easy: Visual Editor
– Page and posts can be
written without HTML
– It’s easier than creating
a Word Document
• Managing Your Content
is a snap: Content
Management System
(CMS)
– Finds pages or images
quickly and easily
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More great things about Wordpress
• Plugins: Tons of free plugins are available
– Think of mini-applications that automate an action
• Sell from your site with the wp-commerce plugin
• Get site stats with the Google Analytics plugin
• Show your most read posts with the popularity plugin
• Easily add Scripts and 3rd
party applications
– Amazon.com affiliate program scripts
– Constant Contact Sign Up boxes
• Customization
– You are free to customize away
– You may need to hire someone to create a truly custom
look or if you don’t want to try to figure it out yourself
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WordPress Basics
So, how do you get started with
WordPress?

Stage One: Sign up!
1.) Head to WordPress.com and click on the “sign
up now” button:

Choosing a Username
2.) Choose a unique username that will identify
you in the WordPress.com community.

Choosing a Password
3.) You’ll need to enter the same password
twice, and the little “strength” bar will tell you
if you’ve chosen a strong password or not.

Contact Information
4.) Next up, add the email address you’d like to
associate with your account.

Terms of Service
5.) Check out the terms of service if you’d like
to, and tick the appropriate box.

Are You Ready to Blog?
6.) Select whether you want a blog or just a
username.
– “Just a username” is for people who want to
comment on specific WordPress blogs, but not
create their own blog.

Naming your Blog
7.) On the next screen, choose a domain name
for your first blog.

Giving Your Blog a Title
8.) Pick a title for your blog.

Choose Your Preferred
Language
9.) Change your language if the correct
one isn’t displayed by default.

Public vs. Private
10.) If you want people to be able to find your
content via WordPress.com or search engines,
make sure that you check the appropriate
box. If you’re planning on running a private
blog, you’ll want this to be unchecked.

Almost there!
11.) Click on “sign up,” and WordPress will send
you a confirmation email. You’ll need to
respond to this to verify that you’re human.

Congratulations!
• You have successfully made your first Blog!

Resources
• http://learn.wordpress.com/
• http://wordpress.org/support/
• http://codex.wordpress.org/New_To_WordPr
ess_-_Where_to_Start
• http://theory.isthereason.com/?p=499
• http://wordpresshelp.org/

It’s a blog. it’s a website.

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