Melissa Love Design - Mastering Wordpress

WORDPRESS & THE ART OF BLOGGING

@melissarachlove

DESIGNING

You

INTO YOUR

BUSINESS

GETTING STARTED WITH WORDPRESS BASIC FEATURES THEMES THAT WORK FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS

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STRATEGIC BLOGGING PLANNING ENGAGING CONTENT SLICK SOCIAL NETWORKING

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RESOURCES I RECOMMEND

WEBSITE & BLOG OPTIONS flash template site

flash / html5 hybrid systems

wordpress site

hand-coded html / flash site

cheap

dear little or no flexibility

good SEO performance

best SEO performance

good SEO performance

unlikely to have mobile capability

complete design flexibility

easy to update but has design limitations

may be mobile-ready

difficult to update but completely custom

easy to set up

mobile-ready

mobile-ready

no coding required

no coding required

some coding required

coding required

WORDPRESS.COM VS WORDPRESS.ORG

BUT WHAT ABOUT:

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BLOGGER, SQUARESPACE, FORMAT, WIX, MOONFRUIT?

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BLOGSITE VS WEBSITE

WHERE DOES WORDPRESS LIVE?

1.

2.

YOUR DOMAIN

YOUR WEBSITE FILES

NEEDS TO BE REGISTERED NEEDS TO BE HOSTED FOR SERVICES LIKE EMAIL

NEED TO HAVE SPACE TO LIVE

!

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NEED TO BE ACCESSIBLE THROUGH VIA FTP

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MANY HOSTING PACKAGES INCLUDE EMAIL SERVICES

CAN BE ‘POINTED’ TO WHERE YOUR FILES LIVE (USING DNS) CAN BE ‘HOSTED’ IN THE SAME PLACE AS YOUR WEBSITE FILES

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CHOOSING HOSTING Look for a one-click install option

CHOOSING HOSTING

Look for a one-click install option

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Can you call them?

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Can they grow with your business? eg. sub domains, SSL certificates

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THE ONE CLICK INSTALL - decide where to put it

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THE ONE CLICK INSTALL - create your login details

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BASIC WORDPRESS SET-UP

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The Dashboard

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BASIC WORDPRESS SET-UP

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Screen Options

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BASIC WORDPRESS SET-UP

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General Settings - basic security

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Permalink structure - month & name - post name

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Blogsite vs website - where will your blog posts appear?

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BASIC WORDPRESS SET-UP

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Blogsite vs website - where will your blog posts appear?

STATIC FRAME OR RESPONSIVE?

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How does your site perform on mobile & tablets?

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Mobile usage to exceed desktop by the end of 2014 10% of all traffic will be greater than 10%

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BASIC WORDPRESS APPEARANCE - Twenty Fourteen

BASIC WORDPRESS APPEARANCE - Twenty Fourteen

CHOOSING A THEME OR FRAMEWORK

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Genesis Pagelines

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Elegant Themes Woo Themes ProPhoto

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Proofing Plugins

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CUSTOMISING A THEME

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Plan around your chosen theme

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Download the resource kit Take a screenshot Photoshop Pixus

CUSTOMISING A THEME WITH THE THEME OPTIONS PANEL

LOGO

MASTHEAD

BUTTON

BIO 1

BIO 2

BIO 3

BUTTON BUTTON

CUSTOMISING A THEME WITH CSS The theme files (stylesheet)

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CUSTOMISING A THEME WITH CSS The theme files (stylesheet)

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CUSTOMISING A THEME WITH CSS USING FIREBUG

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#content .article-title { font-family: Cantarell,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: 2px; margin-bottom: 20px; text-transform: uppercase; }

BREATHE!

WEBSITE STRATEGY

GETTING FOUND ONLINE

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-

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THE BASICS BUILDING TRUST KEEPING THEM INTERESTED FORWARD PLANNING RE-USE & RE-SHARE SOCIAL MEDIA

WHAT DOES GOOGLE WANT?

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To do a really good job serving up results Cannot be fooled Old habits die hard Fair but firm

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WHERE DOES GOOGLE + COME IN? Authorship + affinity

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WHERE DO SOCIAL NETWORKS COME IN? Google is listening even if it’s not indexing Peer-reviewed results make content crucial

WHAT DOES GOOGLE SEE?

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Content (is king) Keywords Site Structure Ease of navigation - internal links Image names & tags

SEO TOOL, TIPS & TRICKS 1. Make sure you know your true ranking

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2. Don’t spend hours on promoting a standalone website

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3. Understand how Google sees you.

HOW GOOGLE SEES YOU

HOW GOOGLE SEES YOU

ALL IN ONE SEO PACK

BUILDING TRUST

MICHELLE STANDERFER

EDITORIAL CALENDAR What’s in it for them?

Are you in the picture?

PLANNING TO SUCCEED

Regular features Seasonal Calendar

EDITORIAL CALENDAR

POST ENGAGEMENT

Your key sales goals Showcase your work without boring them Use post excerpts Choose your highlights Give them the option to view more but don’t make them

Rock ’n Roll Bride

SOCIAL MEDIA

Easy to share

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Easy to pin

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Take the time to post it properly

WORDPRESS, SEO & THE ART OF BLOGGING

Be realistic about the time it takes to make progress and the time you have to put into it.

KEY PLUGINS

All-in-One SEO Editorial Calendar Akismet

ONLINE RESOURCES www.elegantthemes.com www.prophoto.com www.lcn.com

FRIEND ME UP www.facebook.com/melissalovedesign www.twitter.com/melissarachlove www.melissalove.co.uk blog.melissalove.co.uk

blog or complete portfolio website | HTML & mobile ready

www.prophotoblogs.com!

www.thedesignspace.co