Is WordPress Right For You?Using WordPress for your business…as a “blog” or an entire website

10 Tips For WordPress Success

Evaluate whether WordPress is the right choice for you and/or your business

Familiarize yourself with the role of designers, developers and programmers.

Learn why “The web is not print.”

Keep your domain registration and hosting passwords where you can find them!

Make sure that your website hosting supports WordPress

10 Tips For WordPress Success

Be prepared to spend 10-40 hours learning how to use WordPress or paying someone else for your updates.

Choose a theme that you are wild about and be prepared to live with it.

Avoid custom-coded sites unless you have very specific needs.

Work with someone who is the right “fit” for your skill level

Understand the difference between WordPress.com and Wordpress.org.

Is WordPress the right choice?

What is WordPress and is it the right choice for you and/or your business?

WordPress is a Content Management System (CMS) which is different from an HTML website.

Examples are: Drupal, Joomla, WordPress. They are created using a different programming language than early websites.

“Free” and “open source” is a relative term. Evaluate your needs: Time vs. Money?

Is WordPress a Website or a “Blog”? It is both!

Who Does What?

Familiarize yourself with the role of designers, developers and programmers.

1. Designers: Print-orientation, creative use of type, develop logos, branding. It’s all about art.

2. Developer: Takes the graphic elements and makes them work on the web.

3. Programmer: Mathematics, high skill level.

The Web Is Different!

The web is not print.

Have you done your 10,000 hours yet?

15 years designing/developing 100 websites + maintenance on another 25

WordPress is based upon php programming language and utilizes a database for storing content.

Where in the world are we?

• Keep your domain registration and hosting passwords where you can find them!

• Domain registration: (example: https://www.gkg.net)

• Hosting services: (example: www.cruzio.com)

• How do I “Login” to WordPress? (http://santa-cruz-web-design.com/wp-login.php)

Is your hosting WordPress-Friendly?

Make sure that your domain hosting supports WordPress.

1. Are they offering the latest version of WordPress?

2. Are they too big/too small?

3. Backups? What to they charge to “recover.”?

The “overnight” website is a Big Lie

Be prepared to spend 10-40 hours learning how to use WordPress or paying someone else for your updates.

1. Are you a latent geek? Enjoy puzzles and have the patience to figure things out? Does it give you joy?

2. Do you have a specific goal in mind? Fun? Making money? Fun=Free Making $=$2,000-$5,000 investment.

Finding a theme…

Choose a theme that you are wild about and be prepared to live with it.

1. How many people are using your theme? (3 or 40,000)

2. What kind of documentation is available for your theme?

Watch Out!

Avoid custom-coded sites unless you have very specific needs.

1. Avoid the question “Can you do this?”

2. Get some advice before spend $/commit to a specific plan.

Be Prepared To Make a Commitment

Work with someone who is the right “fit” for your skill level or has lots of patience

Work with someone who shares your visual aesthetics

Try to avoid criticizing what you don’t understand

Websites take time to do correctly

Free vs. Paid Hosting

What’s the difference between WordPress.com and Wordpress.org?

WordPress.com is free but you cannot “brand it” without paying extra.

It’s expensive to migrate a CMS website. It’s not just files

Logging In + the Dashboard

www.santa-cruz-web-design.com/wp-login.php

Themes = fun but Frameworks Are Better

Thousands of themes: Pretty but are they practical?

Typically Frameworks like Thesis have optimized CSS, HTML, PHP functions, and SEO

Typically has code that’s written with WordPress standards and best practices

Ease of updating for future releases of WordPress

Developing sites with Thesis Framework

34,377 people are using Thesis:Change background colors, Columns (2, 3, 4, +)Easily add new header photoChange fonts

Examples:Vacation RentalReal Estate Advice SiteMusicianHealth Professional SCC Fair FoundationHand-Made Soap Ecommerce

E-Commerce Solutions

•Client Maintains•Updates products

Collaboration: Dana MacKenzie

• Updated Their Hosting (multiple sites)• Ability to add Images• Add new articles• Add news/publishing tour

Nonprofits: Strawberry Fields

Volunteers/staff can make updates

No maintenance costs

Living documents