Powerpoint
Stop Wondering Start WordPressing [powerpoint slideshow to download]
Loading WordPress
Want to load WordPress yourself? Here’s your shopping list. Make sure you have the following:
For yourself: well just a computer with a browser. You might want some photo editing software although its very easy to edit pictures online nowadays: see http://pixlr.com/ for example.
Domain name: you will need to get a domain name for your site. Domain Monster are reasonable, helpful and we have used them a lot, but there are many others.
Hosting: space to put your website in other words. Make sure your host provides a database – most do now. We like www.34sp.com and www.csnewmedia.com. Justhost.com are good too. And all these provide an easy system to upload WordPress.
Main WordPress sites
- The MAIN site for WordPress: WordPress.org
- Here’s where you download and the famous 5 minute install
Plugins
Many sites run lists of plugins for WordPress and they can often give helpful reviews. But for actually downloading a plugin, I would always go to WordPress themselves where I can see all the reviews and stat numbers for plugins.
WordPress plugin directory
Themes
Many, many theme sites. Here are a few of our favourites. Don’t forget free can be good to try but not always as easy to use and edit.
- WordPress Free Themes directory: if they are on the WordPress site itself, I always feel they are probably pretty good.
- Solostream
- Woo Themes
- Elegant themes
- Template Monster
- Magazine Premium: one of a range of great new themes where you can make all the changes you want to design and style right from the dashboard.
Run your own WordPress site hassle free?
WordPress.com
Great resource and you get to use all their stats etc. You can even register your own domain name and point it at your WordPress.com site. It will cost you but not as much as hosting your own site. There may be limitations in what plugins and themes you can use though.
Favourite plugins
- Akismet – comes with all WordPress installs but you need to sign up and activate it
- All in one SEO pack
- Google Analytics Dashboard
- And get Google Analytics of course
- NextGEN gallery
