WORDPRESS & THE ART OF BLOGGING
@melissarachlove
DESIGNING
You
INTO YOUR
BUSINESS
GETTING STARTED WITH WORDPRESS BASIC FEATURES THEMES THAT WORK FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
! ! STRATEGIC BLOGGING PLANNING ENGAGING CONTENT SLICK SOCIAL NETWORKING
! ! 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:
! BLOGGER, SQUARESPACE, FORMAT, WIX, MOONFRUIT?
! 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
!
!
NEED TO BE ACCESSIBLE THROUGH VIA FTP
!
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
!
!
CHOOSING HOSTING Look for a one-click install option
CHOOSING HOSTING
Look for a one-click install option
! Can you call them?
! Can they grow with your business? eg. sub domains, SSL certificates
!
THE ONE CLICK INSTALL - decide where to put it
!
THE ONE CLICK INSTALL - create your login details
!
BASIC WORDPRESS SET-UP
! The Dashboard
! ! !
BASIC WORDPRESS SET-UP
! Screen Options
! ! !
BASIC WORDPRESS SET-UP
! General Settings - basic security
! Permalink structure - month & name - post name
! Blogsite vs website - where will your blog posts appear?
! ! !
BASIC WORDPRESS SET-UP
! Blogsite vs website - where will your blog posts appear?
STATIC FRAME OR RESPONSIVE?
! ! How does your site perform on mobile & tablets?
! Mobile usage to exceed desktop by the end of 2014 10% of all traffic will be greater than 10%
!
BASIC WORDPRESS APPEARANCE - Twenty Fourteen
BASIC WORDPRESS APPEARANCE - Twenty Fourteen
CHOOSING A THEME OR FRAMEWORK
! Genesis Pagelines
! Elegant Themes Woo Themes ProPhoto
! Proofing Plugins
! ! ! !
CUSTOMISING A THEME
! Plan around your chosen theme
! -
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)
!
CUSTOMISING A THEME WITH CSS The theme files (stylesheet)
!
CUSTOMISING A THEME WITH CSS USING FIREBUG
! ! !
#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
! -
! !
THE BASICS BUILDING TRUST KEEPING THEM INTERESTED FORWARD PLANNING RE-USE & RE-SHARE SOCIAL MEDIA
WHAT DOES GOOGLE WANT?
! To do a really good job serving up results Cannot be fooled Old habits die hard Fair but firm
! WHERE DOES GOOGLE + COME IN? Authorship + affinity
! 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?
! 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
! 2. Don’t spend hours on promoting a standalone website
! 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
! Easy to pin
! 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