The two key components to understand when using WordPress:
1) The “Page”: Pages are the closest to the original fixed web pages but easier to edit. This is where you post the content that does not change as often. Examples of this would be About Us, Contact, Services. Pages – and the ability to set the home address to one of them (for example, About Us) is one of the biggest things that makes it possible to use WordPress as a web site instead of ‘just a blog.’ Here is the Home page of this site: http://www.ncsmallbusinesstraining.com
and
2) The “Post”: The “Posts area” is the “Blog” component of the WordPress website and allows you to add current content on various topics easily. This has been part of WordPress since it started, and is usually the default page you see when you set up a simple WordPress site. Here is the “Posts area” on this site. Posts can be styled numerous ways – recent first, undated, set up to look like articles. http://www.ncsmallbusinesstraining.com/blog/
You can find Post and Page in your Dashboard (also called the Admin Panel) that can be found on by signing in to your own wordpress site by typing /wp-admin after your website address in the browser bar to get the sign-in and password.
Here is the sign-in for this site, note the URL at the top after clicking on:
http://www.ncsmallbusinesstraining.com/wp-admin/
To setup WordPress so it looks like a website with a home page instead of the blog section:
1) Sign-in to your Dashboard
2) Create two pages: one page that you want to be your home page (i.e. Home or Welcome) and a page that you want to store the blog section (i.e. Blog or Articles)
3) Go to: Settings>Reading
3a) Under “Reading Settings” see these options: Front page displays change from “Your latest posts” to “A static page (select below)”
4) Pick the page you want to be seen first as the “Home Page” from pages you already created (Home or Welcome) and then the page you want to be your “blog” from the pages you created (see step 2). Make sure to select “Save Changes”.
5) Now just look at your site and see how it looks
Getting a API Key:
For some plugins you will be requested to provide an API key on the hosted WordPress. To get that you need to sign up for a WordPress.com account if you have not already and go into the area from the Dashboard: Profile / Personal Setting then look for “Your WordPress.com API key is:” copy that numbers/letters. This link may work if you are signedin to wordpress.com:
http://dashboard.wordpress.com/wp-admin/users.php?page=grofiles-user-settings
and to directly get a API key: http://akismet.com/wordpress/
If you notice the bottom of your WordPress pages you may notice that people can post a comment. If you don’t want that to show up (most people don’t) then just go into the page from Dashboard and scroll down till you see: ”
Few Examples of WordPress Websites:
ycorpblog.com – Yahoo
www.thefordstory.com – The Ford Story
electronicsblog.sel.sony.com – Sony
www.samsungusanews.com – Samsung
www.benjerry.fr/blog – Ben and Jerry
dalesgoldbergcpa.com – CPA Company
www.gowerpower.com – Gower Power
NCSmallBusinessTraining.com – Small Business Training with Martin Brossman
www.assistantangel.com – Assistant Angel
www.elsmithconsulting.com – Consulting site
A few tips on creating Pages and Post so they can get results:
- At the bottom of each Page and Post answer the questions: What action do I want them to take next? and make sure you state that clearly. e.g. Give use a call? How have you use (the item) in your business?
- At the end of each Post also have a link to the home page.
- Have a relevant picture or video on each Page and Post to make it more interesting to view and keeping them on the page longer.
- For ever photo added make sure to include the relevant keywords so Google can index that photo in the “alternate text” area.
To contact the instructors:
Michelle Gower GowerPower.com
Martin Brossman ProNetworkingOnLine.com
