Learning How to Use Word Press

I remember back in 1997 when I tried to open an online shop I spent about $350 for a designer to start the site. It was a drop shipping company but I wanted it to be a fru fru type of shop but he thought differently - he obviously knew what was right.

I kept finding different things I wanted to change here and there like changing the categories or pages but each of those changes came at the cost of $70/hour. Most of the time my designer would be able to do it at half the cost but finally told me that he would have to charge me full price or I would have to learn it myself [he had other clients beside me -gasp-].

I didn't learn on my own - I hired another designer friend and she probably got sick of me too. She came up with a more pleasant template for me but I still kept wanting to change things. I guess this "constantly wanting to change a website" is quite common with people like me because she eventually wrote an article on this subject - How to Save Money When Outsourcing Your Projects

The seventh Wahm tip in this series is own your blog. If you find yourself constantly asking your designer to do work on your site it might be time for you to learn to manage your own blog. Learn what it means to update Wordpress, learn how to change your header, and finally learn how to change the colors on your own blog.

Owning your own blog means taking responsibility for it - learning what needs to be done - and doing it. It also means learning the rules of Website Design and why designers build websites the way they do. Here is a simple WordPress Checklist. Just sign up for my Blogging with Momwithahook newsletter. You can unsubscribe anytime.

Photo Credit: Keith Williamson Flickr Creative Commons

Almost everyone who installs their own WordPress theme will want to customize the header. How you do this depends on the theme in question.

For most themes, you can use an FTP manager like Filezilla and then go in and replace the current header image on the theme. Again this will vary by theme so the best way to determine how to change your header is to find out if there are any support files with your theme and read them.

The best thing about buying premium themes is that they almost always come with user support as well as forums and files to make installation and customization easy for you.

Other items to customize:

Sidebar - Many people want to remove the 'Meta' information that is added to WordPress by default. You may also want to add an email opt-in and RSS Feed info to your sidebar. The easiest way to make changes to the sidebars is to find themes that are 'widget' ready. Widget ready themes allow you to easily add and remove widgets to your theme without knowing any special or custom coding. You simply click on the widget selection under 'Appearance' in the left menu of your WordPress software.

Background Color - If you know some HTML the background color is fairly easy to edit. In WordPress find your Stylesheet and the background color coding is usually very close to the top of the stylesheet. Again, this is made much easier if you choose a WordPress theme with different color options. There are many themes out there that now offer various color options. This would mean that you don't need to make any coding changes yourself. Woo Themes is a great choice if you are looking for themes with different colors.

Footer - You'll want to add your copyright to the footer of any blog or website you create with WordPress. You can also go to the CopyScape website and grab a graphic that shows your site is protected by copyright. To edit the footer you will need to go into your themes source files. These are found under the Appearance section but this time you will need to click 'Editor'. Adding company information as well as privacy policy links in the footer section is a good idea also.

When choosing a theme look at what options are available. This will make doing the customization much easier when you come to it.

Ready to get your own WordPress website and theme set up? Join me as I teach you in this online video, webinar and email coaching program everything you need to know about customizing your WordPress websites and blogs.

I took Angela's course earlier this year and I got a lot out of it. I am no techie either. The thing is I really need to try things out over and over again until I have them down.

That's one reason why I decided to purchase Angela's course because she offers lifetime retakes. Definitely something I need.

Although I am officially done with the course and no longer have access to the one-on-one coaching I do have access to all the training videos and worksheets that make the course so awesome. I'm also welcome to attend her Q and A sessions on Wednesdays and ask WordPress related questions.

Interview with Angela Wills of Website Design Mojo: [12-2011]

1. Angela, what are the benefits of transferring my blog from blogger to wordpress? Does your Website Design Mojo course teach me how to do this?

The benefits of transferring from Blogger to WordPress will depend on how you intend to use your blog or website. For one, if you want a website, then it's a good idea to head over to WordPress. You can move a blog you currently have to a self-hosted version of WordPress and turn it into a blog/website combo.

The benefit of this is that you can offer 'static' type pages that explain your products or services so that you are now in front of your target market more often. Blogger is for 'bloggers' who are blogging as a hobby. If you want to get serious about blogging or starting a website then it's time to move on over to a self hosted version of WordPress.

2. Do I need to know html or css to take your class?

No you don't need to know any coding to take my class, none. As a matter of fact I encourage people who are looking for coding and programming information NOT to take my class. This class is for the beginner to intermediate user who wants to use the amazing tools WordPress has to offer to make it easy to set up a professional website or blog, fast.

3. What if I mess my site up while taking your class? Can you help me fix it?

Well, first off I'm going to do everything I can to teach you how to avoid messing up your site. Secondly, whether we can fix it is going to depend on what happened. While I can't promise you if your site messes up during my class I can help you fix it (cause I'm not a guru, just a user like you!) what I can promise is that I will do everything I can to help you during the coaching and I will help point you in the right direction of where to get help. It's highly unlikely that your site will be irreparably messed up during the course. Most issues are easily fixed when you know how and I'm there to guide you through during the six weeks and beyond (with live Q&A sessions all year long).

4. Who is your ideal student?

My ideal student is one of two people:

1. A service-provider who is interested in learning how to use WordPress to build her own website and then use those skills to build and/or update WordPress websites for clients.
2. A DIY small business owners who sees the extreme value and potential of a profitable website and wants to learn how to create her own site and then update it saving much time and money over hiring someone to create a website she can't control.