Overview of WordPress

1. David North
Vice President, MBO Partners
dnorth@mbopartners.com
Blog: www.northideas.com
Twitter: David_North
WordPress
a tool for
building web
sites

2. Overview
• Open Source CMS concepts
• Selecting a CMS
• WordPress
–Overview
–Demo
–Q&A

3. CMS
• Content Management System
• Software that make it possible for a
user to manage the content of a web
site.
• Does not require a programmer to
make changes to content.

4. Open Source
Open source is a development method for
software that harnesses the power of distributed
peer review and transparency of process. The
promise of open source is better quality, higher
reliability, more flexibility, lower cost, and an end to
predatory vendor lock-in.
– http://www.opensource.org/
– Public development team (usually large community)
– Managed by some group or committee
– Source Code available
A great way to build software

5. Free Software
General Public License
Free software is a matter of the users' freedom
to run, copy, distribute, study, change and
improve the software. More precisely, it means
that the program's users have the four essential
freedoms:
– the freedom to use the software for any purpose,
– the freedom to change the software to suit your needs,
– the freedom to share the software with your friends and
neighbors, and
– the freedom to share the changes you make.
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
A great way to get access to good software

6. Open Source CMS
• Number of Popular Open Source CMS
– WordPress
– Joomla
– Drupla
• Large passionate user community
• Lots of development going on
• Lots of free add-ons (plugins, themes)
• Lots of free support
Great tools for building Websites

7. Selecting a CMS
• Ease of Setting up a Simple Site
• Ease of Hosting and Installation
• Ease of Learning to Configure a More Complex Site
• Content Admin Ease of Use
• Graphical Flexibility
• Structural Flexibility
• User Roles and Workflow
• Community/ Web 2.0 Functionality
• Extending and Integrating
• Scalability and Security
• Site Maintenance
• Support/Community Strength
Good Criteria to evaluate and understand

8. Selecting a CMS
• Most CMSes can be made to do the job
• Depending on the job some will be harder
to make do the job than others.
• They all have their pluses and minuses
• WordPress
– Easiest to use out of the box
– Largest usage and community of users
– Largest number of extensions
How do you decide?
Pick one and use it

9. WordPress
• Open Source GPL CMS
• Most widely used Open Source CMS
– www.wordpress.com – hosted service
– www.wordpress.org – download software
• Very Large Community
• Technical Description
– Open Source/GPL Software
– PHP, CSS, MySQL
A great tool for building Websites

10. Why is WordPress Great?
• Flexible – you can use it in lots of ways
• Functional - it provides a wide range of function
(plugins)
• Look– you can make it look anyway you want
(themes)
• Easy of use – non-tech user can maintain it
themselves
• Fast – quickly set up a site
• Support – get good support from WordPress
community
• Free
North Ideas – Seven Reasons Why I like WordPress
http://www.northideas.com/wordpress_solutions/reason-wordpress/

11. WordPress CMS functions
• Multiple User Roles
• Post Workflow process
• Post Revision tracking
• Custom Post Types and Custom Taxonomies
• Custom Menu Structures
• Media library
• Add in functionality
• Flexible page layout and style

12. Is WordPress A Good CMS
• Ease of Setting up a Simple Site *****
• Ease of Hosting and Installation *****
• Ease of Learning to Configure a More Complex Site ***
• Content Admin Ease of Use *****
• Graphical Flexibility *****
• Structural Flexibility *****
• User Roles and Workflow ***
• Community/ Web 2.0 Functionality ***
• Extending and Integrating ****
• Scalability and Security ****
• Site Maintenance *****
• Support/Community Strength *****

13. What kind of web sites
can you build with WordPress?
• Blog site
– www.michellecookseveryday.com
• Brochureware site
– www.lighthousemedicalclinic.org
• Membership site
– www.ccfsa.org
• Ecommerce site
– www.lightmypathministries.com
• Magazine site
– www.northides.com

14. What kind of web sites
can you build with WordPress?
• Multiple Blog site
– Wordpress MU
– Wordpress.com
• Social Network
– Buddy Press (like Facebook)
– P2 (like twitter)

15. Who uses WordPress?
• Daily Oklahoman
• New York Times
• Wall Street Journal
• Mashable
• Mozzilla
• Wired
• MTV
• Ford
• Harvard Law
• Cornell
• Texas Tech
• ZDNet
• Flickr
• Mark Cuban
• Andy Roddick
• Martha Stewart
• Network Solutions
• GE
• Livestrong

16. WordPress Components
• WordPress software from www.wordpress.org
– Manages Content
– Backend system
– PHP functions
• WordPress Plug-ins – catalog of over 9000
– Adds function
– PHP, CSS
– Fee, Paid support
• WordPress Themes - thousands
– Displays Content
– PHP,CSS
– Free, Premium

17. How to Get Started
with WordPress?
• Read & Watch
– www.wordpress.org/
– http://ithemes.com/tutorials/
– www.wordpress.tv
– www.wptavern.com
– Books
• WordPress for Dummies
• WordPress Bible
• Come to OKC WP user group meeting
• Try it out

18. Seven Steps to building a
WordPress site
1. Plan Site
2. Install WordPress
3. Setup WordPress
4. Select Theme
5. Install Plug-ins
6. Do SEO
7. Add Content

19. Planning a Site
– Purpose of the site
– Audience of the site
– Message to users from the site
– What can users do at the site
– Site Map
– Post Types and Taxonomies
• Categories/Tags
• Post Types/Taxonomies

20. Planning a Site
Example: OKC Disc Dog
– Purpose of the site
• To provide information to and encourage participate of
the members of the OKC Disc Dog Club
– Audience of the site
• Club members
• Potential club members
• People interested in the sport of Disc Dog
– Message to Users from the site
• Disc Dog is fun, popular, exciting
• Disc Dog club is fun, helpful, skilled, knowledgeable

21. Planning a Site
Example: OKC Disc Dog
– What can users do at the site
• Display content:
– About club
– About disc dog
– Coming events
» Club meetings/practice
» Contests
– Results
– Records
– News
– About local dogs and owners
– Training info
– Pictures
• Send updates to registered users
• Collect info on people interested in joining

22. Planning a Site
Example: OKC Disc Dog
– Site Map
Home
About
Disc Dog
About
OKC Club
Events Gallery
Member
Form
Records Resources
Club News
Disc Dog
News
Features

23. Planning a Site
Example: OKC Disc Dog
– Post Types and Taxonomies
• Categories (TOC)/Tags (Index)
– Club News
– Disc Dog News
– Training
– Competition Results
• Post Types/Taxonomies
– Dogs
– Events

24. Installing WordPress
– Selecting a Host
• Requirements: PHP 4.3 and MySQL 4.1.2
• http://codex.wordpress.org/Hosting_WordPress
– Selecting an domain
– Installing WordPress
• Manual Install - 5 minute install
• http://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_WordPress
• Auto Install - Simple Scripts/Fanstastico Install
• Get Admin password

25. Installing WordPress
Example: OKC Disc Dog
– Selecting a Host
– Selecting an domain
• New site: www.okcdiscdogs.com
• Point URL to site location
– Installing WordPress
• 5 minute install
• One click - Simple Scripts/Fanstastico Install

26. Setting up WordPress
– Set up users and change admin
– Set Site Name
– Set Site description
– Set Blog URL
– Set Permalink plan
– Set Date and Time
– Set search engine access

27. Setting up WordPress
Example: OKC Disc Dog
– Set Users
• Add users and change admin password
– Set General/Site Name
• OKC Disc Dog
– Set General/Site description
• Promoting the sport of disc dog in the OKC area
– Set General/Blog URL
• www.okcdiscdog.com
– Set General/Date and Time
• Format, week start
– Set Permalink
• /%category%/%postname%/
– Set Privacy
• Set to no access until ready

28. Select a Theme
– Where do you get theme
• Free – Wordpress.org
• Buy – iThemes
• Create - Artisteer
– What is important about the theme
• Gives you the look that communicates the
message
• Gives you the functions you need
– Install and Activate

29. Select a Theme
Example: OKC Disc Dog
– Where do you get theme
• Create – Artisteer
– Install and Activate

30. Install Plug-ins
– Where do you get plugins
• Fee – WordPress.org
• Buy - Pluginbuddy.com
• Build – for programmers
– What plugins do you need
• Basic
• Special Functions

31. Install Plug-ins
Example: OKC Disc Dog
– Standard
• Editing – Tiny MCE Advanced
• SEO – HeadSpace2, SEO Slugs
• Promotion – Sociable, Twitter Tools
• Spam - Akismet
• Backup - BackupBuddy
• XML Site Map - Google XML Site Map
• Email subscription - Subscribe2
• Host test - ServerBuddy
- Special Functions
- Gallery Display - WordPress Gallery Slideshow
- Email Subscription – Subscribe2
- Membership Form – Gravity Forms
- Events - Events Manager
- Links - Blogroll Links

32. Do SEO
– Plan SEO
• Site Description/ Keywords
– Set up standard on site SEO
• Permalinks
• Set up SEO Plugin
• Meta data
• Write good Post/Page Titles
• Related Posts
• Following
– Set up off site SEO
• Links to site from other sites
– Set up Stats
• WordPress Stats (Plug-in)
• Google Analytics (Plug-in)

33. Do SEO
Example: OKC Disc Dog
– Plan SEO
• Site Description -
• Site Keywords -
– Set up standard on site SEO
• Permalinks - done
• Set up SEO Plugin
– Descriptions
– Meta data
• Write good Post/Page Titles
• Related Posts
• Following
– Set up off site SEO
• Links to site from other sites
– Set up Stats
• WordPress Stats (Plug-in)
• Google Analytics (Plugi-n)

34. Add Content
– Add Pages
• Page Title
– Add Posts
• Add Categories
• Post Titles
• Post Conant

35. Add Content
Example: OKC Disc Dog
– Add Pages
– Add Posts
• Add Categories

36. WordPress Demo
• Install
• Install theme
• Install plug-in
• Making a post
• Making a page