Each month NCET explores a business technology designed to help small businesses operate more effectively.
WordPress started as an offshoot of an Open Source software package called b2 cafelog. Matt
Mullenweg and Mike Little saw its potential as a means to democratize publishing on the Internet. Since its creation in 2003, WordPress has evolved from a simple blogging platform to a fullâ€function CMS that is used on approximately 23% of all websites, including Fortune 500 companies such as the Wall Street Journal law blog, Best Buy, eBay, Sony Music and Xerox.
Since WordPress is open source and free, potential users are often misled into believing that it is possible to set up a website for their business with little or no training in the operation of the software. After all, it’s just blogging software, right? That misconception often leads to frustration and disappointment when their new website looks nothing like their plan. When using the selfâ€hosted option, WordPress can be installed in a hosting account in as little as 5 minutes. That, however, is just the beginning. As with any technical subject, WordPress has its own vocabulary of terms and concepts of operation. Taking the time to learn the “WordPress way” of setting up your website will give you the ability to control the look and feel of your online presence.
In this month’s presentation, to be held April 22, we will take a quick tour of the WordPress dashboard, the starting point for all of your website operations. We will investigate some of the basic settings in the dashboard and how those settings affect your website’s operation. Some of the subjects that we will cover are:
◠WordPress roles †what they are and how they can make your life easier, especially with multiple authors accessing your website.
◠WordPress pages and posts †what the difference is within WordPress and when you should use one rather than the other.
â— WordPress categories and tags †what they are and how to use them effectively to enhance your website visitor’s experience.
◠Permalinks †what they are and what they have to do with slugs (more WordPress vocabulary)
◠Themes and Plugins †what are the different types of each, where you should look for them and how you can tell which of several options might be the best solution for your website.
◠WordPress Security †what are some simple practices that you can use to keep your
business website more secure.
◠WordPress Training †where to receive it locally and on the Internet.
You can find more information and register for the event at www.NCET.org.
Tracy Rhodes is NCET’s VP of Website Services and owner of Sierra Web Solutions, LLC, a Renoâ€based website design company. (www.sierrawebsolutions.com) He has been using and developing smallâ€â€business websites with WordPress since 2008.
Article source: http://www.rgj.com/story/money/business/2015/04/10/wordpress-coming-april/25592663/