WordPress for Beginners - How to Run Your Own Site/Blog

Characteristics Of This Class:

If you want an easy, powerful way to update your website/blog, you want WordPress, a flexible, highly customizable content management system (CMS)! Once you have WordPress installed on your web host, you need to learn how to create and manage content on your website.

If you've finished installing WordPress (or had a web developer do it for you), this two-night workshop will teach you the ins and outs of the WordPress interface so you'll be comfortable updating your site.

Day One will cover:

Introduction to WordPress
- Glossary of terms
- History and understanding of expansion from blogging to full site
- Visitor vs. admin
- Logging in - where to go

Getting around the WordPress Dashboard
- Navigating the menu options
- Customizing your Dashboard
- Finding help and inline documentation

Publishing Your Content
- Pages vs. posts
- Creating pages
- Parent/child pages
- Page templates (different depending on theme)
- Creating posts
- Categories and Tags

Visual Editor
- Reviewing the Tool Bar options
- Copying from Word
- Inserting images
- Inserting links

Exploring Settings
- Reading settings (creating a static home page and specifying a 'page' that will show the blog)

Day Two will cover:

Appearance
- Themes - finding them, installing them, and what to look out for in a theme
- Widgets - what they are and a quick look at default widgets
- Custom Menu
- Theme-specific options

Plugins
- What is a plugin?
- How to find them, install them, and what to look out for

Comments and Spam (discussion)
- Akismet - spam comment control

Links List - creating 'blogrolls'

Media (images, video, audio, PDFs)
- Media settings under Settings
- Cropping

Managing Users
- User roles
- Changing default 'admin'
- Nicknames and publically displayed name

Security - a quick overview of importance of backing up, keeping updated

Please note:
WordPress.org is different from WordPress.com. WordPress.com is only for blogs and non-commercial sites. Though some of the information will be relevant to people using WordPress.com, BDA's workshops cover WordPress.org.

Other WordPress Workshops at BDA:

Who Should Take This:

People who will be creating and managing content on a WordPress site, and web developers who need to train their clients. You must have a site set up and ready in WordPress 3.0+.

If you're confused by terms like CMS, web host, and domain registrar, you should take Fundamentals of Web Design first.

Bethany Siegler

Bethany Siegler of UniqueThink helps build your complete online presence and find cost-effective marketing solutions. Bethany has created online marketing campaigns for musical artists as distinct as Frank Black (Pixies) and David Wilcox, software developers as diverse as Wild Divine and OfficeTime, and local independent businesses like The Video Station and Boulder Weekly. She has represented major corporations like SONY and Budweiser, yet prefers to find solutions for smaller companies, often by building sustainable websites and blogs in WordPress.

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I attended Bethany's beginning WordPress class this week and thought it was great! She covered a lot of ground, which I appreciated, and explained it very clearly. I highly recommend it as a good overview of this tool.

France, 5/9/2013

Whoo! On FIRE!! It clicked!! Like a fuel injection engine. I learned SO much for immediate benefit to 1) my new creative project, 2) my current job, and 3) I now feel able to get REALLY hands-on creating websites for potential future clients (freelance) and/or friends and family!! Yesss! Bethany is SO tolerant, generous, thorough, patient, and absolutely BRILLIANT. I really admire her and learn so much in her classes. She is a great educator and super good with people!

Nadia Eve, 5/9/2013

Fabulous instructor with an energetic, friendly, and knowledgeable teaching style.

Suzanne, 4/9/2013

A good overview of what WordPress can do. Good pace, good knowledge, good resources.

Sarah Paz, 3/14/2013

I am a true beginner and I could follow well and I learned what I needed to.

Margaret, 1/9/2013

I learned a lot of practical steps. Very good instruction!

Erika, 7/25/2012

I learned the details of managing my WordPress blog.

Julio, 5/10/2012

I will use what I learned for three websites.

Vivian, 3/15/2012

The instructor was very knowledgeable, easy to understand, and explained well.

Ruth Roslyn, 3/15/2012

Bethany was great! Knowledgeable, helpful and patient.

Linda, 10/27/2011

The instructor was great!!!

Peter, 8/3/2011

The instructor was very helpful! I was very impressed with the facility, snacks, etc.

Brenda, 8/3/2011

It rocked! I own my business and it helped!

Jeff, 5/19/2011

Thanks for a great class! As a newbie to WordPress, the WordPress - Managing Content class gave me the confidence to dive in and explore all the options.

Betty, 9/7/2010

Great overview of the basics of WordPress management.

Michael, 9/7/2010

I learned more than I came for. Instructor was very sensitive to individual goals and questions.

dana, 9/7/2010

Very great follow up from the Intro to Wordpress class.

Chelsey, 5/18/2010

This class will not only help me better serve our clients, it will help me with my blog.

Annie, 5/18/2010

I've used ModX CMS - very similar - so I found this familiar and easy to follow the way Bethany presented. Lots of great tips/shortcuts & how-tos offered and demonstrated.

Alyson, 2/24/2010

Just started to use WP and felt clueless about managing it. Now I feel VERY comfortable!

Annie, 11/19/2009

Great introduction for Developers looking to offer an inexpensive CMS to clients. The support doesn't end when the class does - Angela has sent several follow-up emails with even more information!

Mary, 7/15/2009

I learned a great deal about how to apply WordPress to my personal and freelance web development efforts. The included PowerPoint was a wealth of well organized knowledge that was easy to understand and consolidated.

Ryan, 7/14/2009

Knowledgeable & entertaining.

Alex Miles, 2/19/2009

Right at my level & well-presented.

Bob, 2/19/2009

Related Classes & Workshops

Below is a list of classes & workshops that are related to the one you are reading about now. We also encourage you to take a look at our "help me choose" page for much more information on choosing which BDA program is right for you.

Basics of Blogging

WordPress - Essential Plugins

WordPress - Security & Backup

WordPress - Creating Image Galleries

Optional Payment Plan for Transitions Certificate Programs:

We want to make our training as accessible as possible so we offer a simple payment plan for our Transitions Certificate Programs. Each of the 4 payments is 25% of the total registration fee with no finance charges or other costs. The first payment will be taken when you register and the remaining 3 payments are paid every month for the following 3 months (detailed payment information in the table below). It's easy to take advantage of this option and we encourage you to sign up early since these programs often fill up fast! If you're interested, don't register online. Instead, please contact BDA staff at 303-800-4647 or email us with the name and start date of the program you wish to attend (info@boulderdigitalarts.com) and we'll get you setup, take your first payment, and confirm your registration.

Payment Program Details

	BDA Member	Non-Member
Payment 1 Paid at time of registration.	$37.25	$42.25
Payment 2 Due one month after registration.	$37.25	$42.25
Payment 3 Due two months after registration.	$37.25	$42.25
Payment 4 Due three months after registration.	$37.25	$42.25
Note: registrants using the payment plan are not eligible for the early registration discount and always pay the standard registration fee ($149.00 for BDA members and $169.00 for non-members).

Registration Fees

BDA Members: $139.00

Non-Members: $159.00

Registration Discount Applied
You save $10.00 by registering before midnight on 6/7/2013. Standard registration fees for this program are $149.00 for members and $169.00 for non-members.