Help and guidance for WordPress beginners, from RowntreeMedia

1. WORDPRESS
BASICS
PART 1
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2. ROWNTREEMEDIA
THIS COURSE IS FOR
YOU
…if you have a WordPress site that has already been set up for
you
…if you are new to the WordPress CMS (content management
system – where you upload your Posts, Pages and Images)
…if you like to have simple instructions to hand
Right – let’s start!
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3. ROWNTREEMEDIA
WORDPRESS TERMS
Term Definition
Theme The overall template of your website
Dashboard The central console in the WordPress CMS
Permalinks The web addresses of your web pages
CMS Content Management System – through which you upload
text and images to your website
Media Images, video and downloadable documents
Category A way of labelling your Posts so that they can be grouped.
Categories can have hierarchies.
Tag A further way of labelling your content, allowing it to be
grouped.
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4. ROWNTREEMEDIA
HOW TO LOG IN TO WORDPRESS
Go to your domain eg www.mydomain.com
Add /login to the end of the address.
Press return.
Enter your login name and password.
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5. ROWNTREEMEDIA
THE DASHBOARD
This is where you access
your content.
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6. ROWNTREEMEDIA
PAGES OR POSTS?
Pages contain static
content that is
always true. Pages
are generally only
updated if incorrect
or outdated.
Examples of pages
• About us
• Contact us
Posts are used for
news – they keep
the website fresh.
Posts are date
stamped and
usually carry the
author’s name.
Posts are used for
blogs.
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7. ROWNTREEMEDIA
HOW TO CREATE A PAGE
In the left hand menu, click the Pages link on the
Dashboard, then All Pages.
Click the Add New tab.
Insert a Title – make it unique.
Use keywords which means “Be as specific as
possible.”
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8. ROWNTREEMEDIA
HOW TO CREATE A POST
Very similar to a Page.
Click the Posts link on the Dashboard, then All Posts.
Click the Add New tab.
Insert a Title – make it unique.
Use keywords in the body copy.
Tick a Category.
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9. ROWNTREEMEDIA
TITLES AND URLS
Insert a title in your Page or Post.
When you move off the title a URL (web address) is created just
beneath.
If you amend the title of a Page/Post, you should also amend the
URL.
Use the Edit button next to the Permalink to give the page a new
URL.
✚ Avoid amending the URLs of old Pages/Posts – they may be linked
to by other websites. Changing them will cause an error page to
appear.
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10. ROWNTREEMEDIA
ADD TEXT
After you have typed in your Title (for a Page or a Post)
notice that the title forms part of the webpage address.
Type or paste in the body copy.
✚ On the web, copy is called text.
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11. ROWNTREEMEDIA
Some themes have
different page formats
eg
• Full width
• Left sidebar
• Staff
Make your choice in the
right hand column.
PAGES: CHOOSE A TEMPLATE
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12. ROWNTREEMEDIA
Web pages are part of a
hierarchy.
When you create a new
page, decide which other
page it should ‘sit
under’ by choosing a
Parent.
If this page sits on the
top level choose no
parent.
PAGES: CHOOSE A PARENT
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13. ROWNTREEMEDIA
POSTS: CATEGORIES & TAGS
WordPress uses Categories and Tags to organise Posts and group
them together.
Create categories by:
• Adding them on the edit screen
OR
• Adding them in Posts -> Categories (in the left hand
menu)
Assign a Category to each Post.
✚ Tags are similar to Categories but are more specific.
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14. ROWNTREEMEDIA
The edit screen has word
processor options (bold,
italic, colours etc).
Font sizes are controlled
by the use of Styles
(paragraph, address,
Heading 1, Heading 2
etc)
USING THE EDIT SCREEN
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15. ROWNTREEMEDIA
MAKING LINKS
Highlight the text you want to link – make it as
enticing as possible.
Click the Link tool in the toolbar.
Type or paste in the website address you want to link
to or find an internal page.
✚ To break a link use the Break Link tool.
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16. ROWNTREEMEDIA
EDIT THROUGH THE POST/PAGE
If you want to amend a Page or Post you have already
published find the Page/Post you want to edit.
Click Edit Page/Post in the top menu.
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17. ROWNTREEMEDIA
PUBLISH OR SAVE AS
DRAFT
Using the options on the right
hand side choose to Save Draft
or Publish immediately.
WordPress also allows you to
schedule the release of Pages
and Posts.
• Look for Publish immediately
to the right of the edit screen.
• Click Edit next to it.
• Assign a date and time.
• Press Publish.
• In the list of all Pages/Posts it
shows up as Published with a
date next to it.
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18. ROWNTREEMEDIA
SPLITTING LONG POSTS/PAGES
You can paginate a long Page or Post by inserting a short code in
the text.
• On the edit screen, select the Text tab (top right of edit
box)
• Find the place in the text where you want the page to split.
• Insert this code: <!--nextpage-->
• Return to the Visual tab
• Preview your split
• Save or update
• The Page or Post now has pagination at the foot.
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19. ROWNTREEMEDIA
IMAGES
Images are stored in Media.
To illustrate a Page/Post you can upload a new image or reuse an
old one.
Images should be:
• JPG, PNG or GIF format (do not use PDF or PSD)
• RGB (this is the colour profile – stands for Red, Green, Blue)
• 72dpi (dots per inch)
• Under 1MB
✚ Ensure file names are meaningful before you upload the image.
Use aldwych-theatre-london.jpg rather than 298457FAW3094.jpg.
This is good for SEO.
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20. ROWNTREEMEDIA
UPLOAD AN IMAGE – 1
In the edit box, place your
cursor in the top left of the
text. Click the Add media
symbol on the controls.
Drag an image on to the
media box or use the
browser to locate and
select the image on your
computer.
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21. ROWNTREEMEDIA
UPLOAD AN IMAGE – 2
Amend the image title if
necessary.
Add Alternate Text.
Add a Caption (optional).
Add an image link (optional).
Choose the alignment and
size.
Click Insert into Post.
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22. ROWNTREEMEDIA
HOW TO REUSE AN
IMAGE – 1
In the edit box
place your cursor in
the top left of the
text.
Press the Add
media symbol
above the text box.
On the next screen
click Media Library
and…
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23. ROWNTREEMEDIA
REUSE AN IMAGE – 2
… either Search for
the image or scroll
through until you
find the correct one.
Click Show. This
displays information
about the image.
Choose which size
you want to use in
your Post and press
Insert into Post.
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24. ROWNTREEMEDIA
REUSE AN IMAGE – 3
✚ If you add or change data on an image, it will be “global.”
A caption, for instance, will appear under every instance of the
image on the website
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25. ROWNTREEMEDIA
CONTINUE THE COURSE
PART 2
• Editing images
• Formatting text
• Plugins
• Widgets
• Themes
PART 4
SEO and Analytics
• SEO good practice
• Keywords
• Google Analytics
• Webmaster tools
PART 3
Managing your WordPress site
• Settings
• Comments
• Users
• Your domain
• WordPress updates
PART 5
• Email newsletters
• Events calendar
• Social media
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