Crash Course in WordPress.com

A Crash Coursein WordPress.com

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

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

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.

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.

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-web-runs-on-wordpress/

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

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.

Using WordPress.com

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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/

Resources

WordPress.com Support Sectionhttp://en.support.wordpress.com/

WordPress.com Forumshttp://en.forums.wordpress.com/

Any Questions?

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