This is the WordPress 101 session that I gave at WordCamp Hamilton 2015. This is intended for people who have never touched the platform before. It is intended to help people make decisions to get them on the right path from the beginning, even before they've logged in.

1. WordPress 101
Shanta R. Nathwani

2. Agenda
• About Me
• Introduction
• WordPress
• Hiring someone
• FAQ’s & Tips
• Q & A’s

3. Find Me!
Tweet Me:
@ShantaDotCa
Email:
shanta@shanta.ca
My Web Site:
http://shanta.ca

4. About Me
• Instructor, Sheridan College
• Joint program with University of Toronto at
Mississauga: Institute of Culture, Communication,
Information and Technology
• Web Design and Capstone Project
• Independent IT and Social Media Consultant
• Clients include NPOs, Real Estate, Software
Development, Financial and Political Sectors
• Founder, Women in Technology Hamilton
• Bachelor of Commerce in Info Tech Mgmt.,
Ryerson University

5. Disclaimer
• Please excuse all the text. I’m used to using
this for my students, but they make great
notes!
• I’m going to upload these after the session
to my website. So you don’t have to write
this all down.
• Please ask questions! I’ll try and add them
to the slides after the fact.

6. What Is WordPress? Why Should I Use It?
• WordPress used be known as a blogging tool. Now, it is a platform for
creating websites.
• Currently powers 23% of the world’s websites, including The Huffington
Post. This has been increasing at a rate of approximately 2-3% per year over
the last 3-4 years. It’s not going away any time soon.
• Easy to use, can have multiple contributors at different levels of access and
much of the time, doesn’t need code.
• Easy to integrate with numerous other platforms, especially Social Media.

7. .COM vs .ORG
wordpress.COM (Free-ish)
• Hosted by WordPress/Automattic
• Typically has a set domain made up of your
username and “.wordpress.com”. i.e.,
http://tantienhime.wordpress.com
• Can have your own domain or modify
themes, but costs extra
• No Plugins
wordpress.ORG
• Also referred to as “Self-Hosted”.
• Hosted by a third-party (such as Bluehost)
• FREE for the software. You will pay for
hosting.
• Can have whatever domain you want. i.e.,
http://shanta.ca, http://tantienhime.com
• Can modify themes, add plugins and much
more!

8. Themes
• The “Look and Feel” of your
website
• Might include some functionality
• The “Front End” or what people
see
From Graph Paper Press

9. Plugins
• Plugins extend the usefulness of
your website
• Some examples are Backup Buddy
and Jetpack
• The “Back End” or what people
don’t see

10. Which One Should I Use? It Depends…
Personal
• If you just want to use it for a personal
website and more of a blog, use the
.COM version
Business
• If you are going to run your business
off of this site, use .ORG

11. Coding Tips & Tricks
• No matter what your discipline, learn a bit of HTML and CSS. This will help you modify
your themes
• Use Firebug to target what you need to find in your webpages.
• Never go live (Thank you Al Davis). Always back up your work, and I don’t recommend
making changes to the code through the WordPress Dashboard. This is the ONLY thing I
don’t recommend doing through the Dashboard.
• You can probably learn more about these topics at numerous talks online and at WordCamps

12. Recommendations
• Don’t use your social media as your primary channel (such as Facebook)
• I recommend using at least Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn (depending on the
focus of the org)
• Keep it current. Use Galleries and stories.
• Automate to Social Media and Email Lists (Mailchimp, for example)
• Monitor all the channels that you are on
• Pay the money when you need to!

13. Common Questions
And maybe some common answers

14. “ ”1. Do I have to download WordPress to my computer?
Long Answer:
WordPress.org is hosted on a server running a number of different services, including
MySQL Server. You could run it on your computer, but it’s complicated for many beginners
My advice:
Unless you have to do a lot of testing, such as a developer or designer, don’t bother running
it locally.
Short Answer: NO

15. “ ”2. Where can I get themes and plugins?
Long Answer
Do NOT use either themes or plugins from an unreliable source. Do NOT Google “Free WordPress Themes”
My Advice
Start with themes and plugins from WordPress itself. These can be downloaded directly through your Dashboard or
from WordPress.org
Short Answer: Many places

16. “ ”
3. Okay, you’ve convinced me. How do I move from
.COM to .ORG?
Long Answer:
WordPress offers a premium service for about $150 that will migrate your site over to your
new hosting company. This includes redirects and SEO.
My Advice:
Let the pros handle it.
Short Answer: It can be done, but it isn’t easy.

17. Extra Resources
• Codecademy.com: Lessons on learning how to code
• Lynda.com: Videos as well as starter files included (paid service, but sometimes free
through in your education institution)
• W3Schools: Great lookup resource for code. We don’t memorize every piece of
code, we look it up
• WordPress: This is where you can learn almost everything I’ve just talked about!
There is also one for .ORG, but this will get you about 90% of the way there. Skip
the “Getting Started” part if you are using the .ORG
• Lucas Cherkewski: Great advice on hiring a developer!

18. Final Thoughts
• Join a local WordPress Meetup (Hamilton has a great one!)
• Do your research, as with anything, especially hosting
• Have an idea of what you want going into a relationship with a designer or
developer, both look and functionality

19. Questions?
Tweet Me:
@ShantaDotCa
Email:
shanta@shanta.ca
My Web Site:
http://shanta.ca