Starting at the top with our WordPress menu

Now that we have an idea of the keywords that we want to use and a basic foundation of how we would like to build our site, let's start building. This video will start us off adding some plugins and  Categories to our WordPress site. We will also start adding some items to our menu bar for navigation and SEO.

Starting at the top with our WordPress menu

Now that we have an idea of the keywords that we want to use and a basic foundation of how we would like to build our site, let's start building. This video will start us off adding some plugins and  Categories to our WordPress site. We will also start adding some items to our menu bar for navigation and SEO.

Conversion is a function of relevance

Although testing is important to optimize for conversion, starting with a good content built for your intended customer is extremely important. This video covers some of the basics that you should keep in mind for SEO and conversion.

Conversion is a function of relevance

Although testing is important to optimize for conversion, starting with a good content built for your intended customer is extremely important. This video covers some of the basics that you should keep in mind for SEO and conversion.

The power of WordPress plugins

In addition to having blog roots there are thousands of plugins that you can add to extend the abilities of your site or micro-site. As more and more social and review applications are introduced like Foursquare, Facebook, Twitter, SCVNGR, Yelp, etc., WordPress developers answer the call. The Internet and the way that we market is evolving at an ever increasing rate.   Your ability to make adjustments on a dime will be part of what defines your success as consumers move in swarms from one social platform to another.

Choosing plugins for your site

Plugins are a big part of how WordPress stays ahead of the curve. As an Open Source project there are thousands of programmers from around the World that contribute by adding themes and plugins. A plugin can add various functionality to a site kind of like adding a snow plow to the front of a truck can add the ability to move snow. There are WordPress plugins for SEO, Social Network integration, Google Maps, slide shows, pop up marketing, and much, much more.

You should be aware that not all plugins are created equal. While you browse through the available plugins on www.WordPress.org, keep in mind that out of the almost 14,000 plugins available you will come across some that are old or just not built well. WordPress has added the ability for users to rate and review plugins in addition to giving you other valuable information about them. As you begin to use new plugins always take note of the age, update frequency, ratings, reviews, and support channels. As you use continue to use WordPress you will also become familiar with certain plugin authors that you are comfortable with.

As you will see in the video it is possible to search for plugins that provide specific functionality like "YouTube video player". You can also type in the name of the plugin, upload a plugin from your desktop (needs to be in a .zip file) or just browse the plugins based on popularity or most recent.

Uploading and setting up your plugin

Once you have chosen your plugin all you need to do is select upload then activate and it will be ready to go. Set up of your plugin will vary depending on the functionality.

Tubepress Video plugin for YouTube and Vimeo

In the Tubepress plugin that I set up in the video there are many options that can be chosen or you can just install add a YouTube user and be done. In the video you will see that I chose the later and just added a YouTube channel, but there is much more functionality available. You can display videos or galleries of videos from playlists, video searches, combine Vimeo and YouTube videos and much more. I have also included a link to the documentation just in case you want to explore a little more.

Link for Tubepress documentation: http://tubepress.org/documentation/start
 

The power of WordPress plugins

In addition to having blog roots there are thousands of plugins that you can add to extend the abilities of your site or micro-site. As more and more social and review applications are introduced like Foursquare, Facebook, Twitter, SCVNGR, Yelp, etc., WordPress developers answer the call. The Internet and the way that we market is evolving at an ever increasing rate.   Your ability to make adjustments on a dime will be part of what defines your success as consumers move in swarms from one social platform to another.

Choosing plugins for your site

Plugins are a big part of how WordPress stays ahead of the curve. As an Open Source project there are thousands of programmers from around the World that contribute by adding themes and plugins. A plugin can add various functionality to a site kind of like adding a snow plow to the front of a truck can add the ability to move snow. There are WordPress plugins for SEO, Social Network integration, Google Maps, slide shows, pop up marketing, and much, much more.

You should be aware that not all plugins are created equal. While you browse through the available plugins on www.WordPress.org, keep in mind that out of the almost 14,000 plugins available you will come across some that are old or just not built well. WordPress has added the ability for users to rate and review plugins in addition to giving you other valuable information about them. As you begin to use new plugins always take note of the age, update frequency, ratings, reviews, and support channels. As you use continue to use WordPress you will also become familiar with certain plugin authors that you are comfortable with.

As you will see in the video it is possible to search for plugins that provide specific functionality like "YouTube video player". You can also type in the name of the plugin, upload a plugin from your desktop (needs to be in a .zip file) or just browse the plugins based on popularity or most recent.

Uploading and setting up your plugin

Once you have chosen your plugin all you need to do is select upload then activate and it will be ready to go. Set up of your plugin will vary depending on the functionality.

Tubepress Video plugin for YouTube and Vimeo

In the Tubepress plugin that I set up in the video there are many options that can be chosen or you can just install add a YouTube user and be done. In the video you will see that I chose the later and just added a YouTube channel, but there is much more functionality available. You can display videos or galleries of videos from playlists, video searches, combine Vimeo and YouTube videos and much more. I have also included a link to the documentation just in case you want to explore a little more.

Link for Tubepress documentation: http://tubepress.org/documentation/start
 

 

Adding a Page to your WordPress website

You may or may not have heard the acronym WISYWYG before.  WISYWYG is for What You See Is What You Get and is used for creating html content for websites, emails, and much more. Within WordPress the WYSIWYG tool is used quite a bit as it is the Visual Editor for adding content for pages and posts.  Although creating pages and posts with the WYSIWYG tools can be a bit tricky it is much easier than learning html coding. You have access to add text, images, video and audio files.  The following video will go through how to add a page with a single image and some text.  

How to put your page in the WordPress menu system

One of the most significant advances with WordPress 3.0 when it was released last year was the menu system.  Before menus adding pages and content to your site needed to be very well planned out and making changes to a large site was cumbersome. As an example before the menu function if you added a page or post to your site it would automatically be added to your site.  You will notice in the video that with the menu system the page doesn't display on the site until you want it to. Now with a couple clicks and drag and drop you are able to add and edit the layout of your site in a matter of minutes.  As was brought up on the previous post about themes, making sure that the theme you choose has WordPress menus available is important.  This video will show you how to add a menu and then add a page to that menu using a commercial (paid) theme from WooThemes.

 

Adding a Page to your WordPress website

You may or may not have heard the acronym WISYWYG before.  WISYWYG is for What You See Is What You Get and is used for creating html content for websites, emails, and much more. Within WordPress the WYSIWYG tool is used quite a bit as it is the Visual Editor for adding content for pages and posts.  Although creating pages and posts with the WYSIWYG tools can be a bit tricky it is much easier than learning html coding. You have access to add text, images, video and audio files.  The following video will go through how to add a page with a single image and some text.  

How to put your page in the WordPress menu system

One of the most significant advances with WordPress 3.0 when it was released last year was the menu system.  Before menus adding pages and content to your site needed to be very well planned out and making changes to a large site was cumbersome. As an example before the menu function if you added a page or post to your site it would automatically be added to your site.  You will notice in the video that with the menu system the page doesn't display on the site until you want it to. Now with a couple clicks and drag and drop you are able to add and edit the layout of your site in a matter of minutes.  As was brought up on the previous post about themes, making sure that the theme you choose has WordPress menus available is important.  This video will show you how to add a menu and then add a page to that menu using a commercial (paid) theme from WooThemes.

Managing, Editing and Adding Themes to your site

If you are anything like me you will want to get right into changing how your WordPress website looks. Browsing through available free themes and commercial themes is like being a kid in the candy store.
It doesn't matter if you know what look and functionality you want on your site at this point  If you do have an idea you of course can zero in you search.  On the other hand if your not sure what you want browsing through all of the possibilities will help give you some ideas too.

WordPress Twenty Ten Theme

Since WordPress comes out of the box with the Twenty Ten theme the following video will cover how to change the header and background so you can start right away.

Commercial & Free Themes

WordPress has over a thousand free themes available for download into your website.  In the video I will cover how to search for free themes as well as how to activate them.  Just a side note: I refer to "commercial" themes as "premium" themes in the video.  WordPress has been making an effort eliminate the use of "premium" as it relates to paid theme and now call them "commercial". This is something that you will want to be aware of as you search for themes.

Managing, Editing and Adding Themes to your site

If you are anything like me you will want to get right into changing how your WordPress website looks. Browsing through available free themes and commercial themes is like being a kid in the candy store.
It doesn't matter if you know what look and functionality you want on your site at this point  If you do have an idea you of course can zero in you search.  On the other hand if your not sure what you want browsing through all of the possibilities will help give you some ideas too.

WordPress Twenty Ten Theme

Since WordPress comes out of the box with the Twenty Ten theme the following video will cover how to change the header and background so you can start right away.

Commercial & Free Themes

WordPress has over a thousand free themes available for download into your website.  In the video I will cover how to search for free themes as well as how to activate them.  Just a side note: I refer to "commercial" themes as "premium" themes in the video.  WordPress has been making an effort eliminate the use of "premium" as it relates to paid theme and now call them "commercial". This is something that you will want to be aware of as you search for themes.