WordPress: Up & Running

AJ Morris

About

• Working with WordPress on and off since 2006.

• Develop Themes & Plugins• Consult as Freelancer• Work for CovenantEyes, Inc

Do I need a blog?

How a Blog helps your Business

• Way of branding yourself• Gives you creditability• Reach customers• Get feedback

WordPress.comvs

WordPress.org

WordPress.com vs self-hosted WordPress

• WP.com - basic service is free, add-ons such as domain, extra space, etc. cost more

• WP.com - keeps you updated and backedup

Self-hosted WordPress

• Need to pay for hosting• Need a domain• Need to keep it updated & backedup

Other differences?

• Setup & Installation• WP.com - through signup• Self-hosted - varies by host

Other differences?

• WP.com - Limited to 75 Themes + some premium themes

• Self-hosted - Essentially limitless

Other differences?

• WP.com - Widgets, but they release new ones from time to time

• Self-hosted - Essentially limitless

Other differences?

• WP.com - Monetizing, read their terms of use

• Self-hosted - Monetize any way you want, ads, affiliates, etc.

Getting Started with self-hosted WordPress

Themes

• Free - Available WP.org (Don’t search via Google!)

• Premium - A few places

Free Themes

Free Themes

• Don’t search for free themes!• Don’t search for free themes!• Some premium theme companies have a

free / lightweight free theme

Premium Themes

• Tons of places! Here’s just a few!

Premium Themes• Tons of places! Here’s just a few!

Premium Themes

• Be careful of themeforest• Some developers produce crap code• Stick to the popular authors

Free Plugins

• http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/• Tons of Free plugins for just about

anything!• Stick to the popular authors

Premium Plugins

Getting Started with self-hosted WordPress

Picking a Domain• Short• Catchy and memorable• Easy to pronounce• Easy to spell• Not too similar to competing domain names• Not a violation of someone else’s trademark

Domain Name

• http://www.name.com/• https://www.hover.com/• http://www.namecheap.com/

Types of Web Hosts• Shared hosting account• Shared VPS• VPS• Dedicated• Managed WP Hosting

Selecting a Web Host

• PHP 5.2.4 or higher• MySQL 5.0 or higher• Apache or nginx recommended• Check out http://wordpress.org/hosting/

Non-Managed Hosting

Managed Hosting

Ready to Begin?

✓ Domain✓ Hosting✓ WordPress Download

Install Time!

Beginner Resources• WP101 - http://bit.ly/wp101-gr2012• WPBeginner - http://bit.ly/wpbeginner-

gr2010• WP Codex - http://bit.ly/wp-get-started-

codex • Lynda.com - http://bit.ly/lynda-wp • Untame - http://bit.ly/get-going-wp

Questions?

Thank you!