WordPress Workshop Terri Orlowski beyond the office About Terri - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

WordPress Workshop

Terri Orlowski beyond the office

About Terri

• Founded beyond the office in 2006
• Specialize in WordPress, websites &

email marketing templates

• Certified Internet Webmaster
• Internet Marketing Virtual Assistant
• IVAA EthicsCheck Certification
• @torlowski
• facebook.com/beyondtheoffice

What is WordPress?

• “WordPress is web software you can use to

create a beautiful website or blog. We like to say that WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.” (from WordPress.org)

• First released on May 27, 2003, by Matt

Mullenweg as a fork of b2/cafelog. (Wikipedia)

• As of 02/11, WP 3.0 had been downloaded over

32.5 million times.

• WordPress is used by over 13% of the

1,000,000 biggest websites.

WordPress.com

• Free
• Custom Domain ($)
• Free hosting (limited)
• Limited Themes
• Limited Plugins
• Automatic backups and

upgrades

• Hosted across servers,

can handle traffic

WordPress.org

• Free (to download)
• Custom domain ($)
• Requires Hosting ($)
• Unlimited Themes
• Unlimited Plugins
• Responsible for your own

backups & upgrades

• Your-choice hosting*

.com vs. .org

How to Install WordPress?

One-click installation

• Quick & Easy install available from

most web hosts

 Not all hosts use Fantastico, but most offer some

• ne-click installation option
• Good option for non-techies
• Not as secure as manual installation
• Takes about 3-5 minutes

“Famous 5 Minute Install”

• Some technical experience required
• Download latest version from WordPress.org
• Create MySQL Database & User
• Edit wp-config-sample.php
• Rename to wp-config.php
• Upload WordPress files (FTP or File Manager)
• Go to site to activate install script

*may take longer than 5 minutes depending on your computer speed and Internet connection

• DB_NAME (line 19)
• DB_USER (line 22)
• DB_PASSWORD (line 25)
• DB_HOST (line 28)
• Authentication Unique Keys & Salts (lines 45 -

52)

– https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/salt/

• Table Prefix (line 63)

wp-config.php

WordPress Security

• Remove or neuter the

admin account

• Non-default table prefix
• Hide version &

Generator meta tag

• Regular Updates
• Strong Password
• .htaccess in /wp-admin
• Security Plugins
• Be choosy about

theme & plugin sources

• File permissions
• Move wp-config.php
• Good Host
• Regular Backups

Plugins - Security

• Semisecure Login Reimagined
• User Locker
• WP Security Scan
• WP Optimize – use to rename admin account &

remove post revisions to decrease db size

• WordPress File Monitor
• Akismet (Bad Behaviour, Spam Karma, Disqus)
• SEO Ultimate – (404 monitor)
• Bluetrait Event Viewer (BTEV)
• Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC)

Plugins - Backup

• WP DB Backup
• WordPress Backup by BTE
• Backup Buddy ($)

Plugins – Other Useful Stuff

• Gravity Forms ($)
• Google XML Sitemaps
• Sexy Bookmarks
• WordPress Editorial Calendar
• WP Google Analytics
• WPtouch (free or $)
• All in One Webmaster (free or $)
• Broken Link Checker
• Simple URLs

Plugins

• Where to find plugins?

– http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins – IVAANet (ask for recommendations)

• What are your favorite plugins?

What about themes?

• StudioPress
• ithemes
• WooThemes
• ElegantThemes
• Frameworks

– Thesis – Genesis – Headway

• wordpress.org/extend/themes (free, use with

caution)

WordPress for Podcasting

• Simple – link to an audio file from a post
• Podpress plugin
• PowerPress by blubrry.com

WordPress for Newsletter

• WordPress/Feedburner

– Add a new category (ie Newsletter) – Exclude this category from Category list – Exclude regular blog posts from newsletter category – Create new feed in Feedburner for your category – Enable email subscriptions in Feedburner for that feed – Get code from Feedburner for subscription & put it in a widget – Enable full text feeds in WordPress Settings – Publish post in newsletter category and let Feedburner take care of the rest

WordPress for Newsletter

• Use RSS feed option with your favorite mail

service (MailChimp, Aweber)

• Get code for signup box and put it in a widget,

page or post on your site

– MailChimp List Subscribe Form plugin – Gravity Forms Pro add-on plugin for MailChimp – Aweber Web Form Plugin

WordPress for Newsletter

• ALO EasyMail Newsletter

– Track/manage subscribers in WordPress – Can send to additional email addresses – Merge tags available for subscriber names, post titles, excerpts, etc. – Can create HTML or plain-text email messages – Scheduled sending – Reports and stats

How do you use WordPress?

• Website
• Blog
• Video Blog
• Podcast
• News Site
• Membership Site
• Social Networking Site
• Project Management
• E-commerce
• Forums
• Article Directory
• Invoicing
• Newsletter
• Photo Blog
• Business Directory
• Contact Manager
• Online Job Portal
• Online Classifieds
• FAQ Portal
• Ticket System
• Wiki
• Digg Clone

• Questions?
• Comments?
• Tips?
• Suggestions?

Thank you!

WordPress Workshop

Terri Orlowski, beyond the office terri@beyondtheoffice.com @torlowski facebook.com/beyondtheoffice beyondtheoffice.com/summit11