Find answers to common question and links to more in-depth articles and resources.
WordPress
Want to know more about WordPress, start here.
WordPress is publishing software that allows you to create and manage a web site. WordPress doesn’t require any knowledge of writing computer programs. If you are moderately capable with a word processor like Microsoft Word, Google Docs, WordPerfect, or LibreOffice, you are already well along the path to understanding how to use WordPress. If you are “moderately capable” then you will be comfortable with formatting your documents using different fonts and colours, structuring your documents by using paragraphs, multiple level headings and different types of lists, and adding images with captions.
Where WordPress differs from the word processor you are used to is mainly in areas that are effected by the fact that your document is on a web site. For example, you can’t just add an image to a document in one step. It usually takes a couple of steps but it isn’t hard, just slightly different and also easy to get used to.
WordPress manages the look of your web site so that all of your web pages look similar in important areas of styling and layout. If you’ve used document templates that set margins, fonts, hanging indents, heading styles, etc in your word processor then you’ll quickly understand WordPress themes.
WordPress isn’t the only game in town. There are many ways to create a web site and one of those may be more suitable for you than WordPress. Sometimes it’s just the way that the software works that makes one easier to learn and use than another. Some major alternatives to WordPress include Joomla, Drupal, Blogger, and Magento.
There isn’t space here to dive into each of these and they are well covered by a number of review and comparison sites. A quick search for “alternatives to wordpress reviews and comparison” will find reviews to these and more.
WordPress itself is software that is freely available to use in any way you want but there are two sites: wordpress.com and wordpress.org.
WordPress.org is the home of the free software and the centre of the community of users and support.
WordPress.com is a site that runs wordpress software as a service. Starting with a free wordpress.com sub-domain, various monthly plans from AUD5 to AUD34 provide additional services such as the ability to use your own domain name for your site, add plug-ins, increase storage space, and monetise your site. All paid plans include email and live chat support.
If you want to try out WordPress then you can start out with a free wordpress.com site. You won’t be able to use your own domain name but you can become familiar with WordPress for zero cost and no commitment. Treat it as a learning exercise but set yourself a time limit, say three or four weeks. Add your content and get your friends and family to provide feedback. Migrating from wordpress.com to your own self-hosted or managed WordPress site will mostly be cut and paste from your free site so there is no need to hold back on producing good quality content and pushing your creative abilities.
If you decide that WordPress is for you then you can decide how to proceed.
When you publish a page or post, WordPress creates a unique URL address for that article. The default format of the URL can be modified to improve human readability and possibly improve search engine ranking.
Go to Settings -> Permalinks and under common settings select either “Post name” or “Custom Structure”. If you select Custom Structure then enter “/%category%/%postname%/” (without quotes) in the fillable field.
Save the changes and you are on your way.
Recommended plug-ins
Plugins provide extended functionality and enable you to provide the service that your viewers expect but there are thousands to choose from. Here is a list of plugins that I use and have found helpful. If you need to solve a problem quickly then jump in and try these out. If it works out then you've saved a lot of time and effort sorting through and testing the alternatives.
The best and most powerful free drag and drop form builder I have used. Easily add widget ready and responsive forms to your site. Beyond the basics, these forms provide conditional logic and variables so that you can create powerful solutions quickly. Add a running total to a list of items or calculate discounts on the fly.
On those occasions when you are doing major maintenance to your site, it is nice to be able to put up a friendly message explaining what is happening and, more importantly, when your site will be available again.
You can read a bit more over at my WordPress Crash Test Dummy site where I used this plugin to leave a message while changing my site theme.
With over a 100,000 active installations this plugin is the one to have for ease of use and flexibility. Add the plugin in the widget area or drop a short code onto a page. You can set the Title, Facebook application ID, your Facebook page URL, along with other settings such as width and height.
There is a brief introductory video on the page linked below.
https://en-au.wordpress.org/plugins/facebook-pagelike-widget/
Recently, a client needed to showcase a few products so I added these plugins to their site and was very happy with the results. FooGallery is a nice responsive layout that has enough configuration options to get the presentation you want without spending too much time turning every knob or pressing every switch.
FooBox Image Lightbox complements FooGallery with zero configuration. Just install and activate this plugin and you are on your way. This plugin also works with other WordPress galleries.
I’m a bit late to the game with this one. With over a million active installations and constantly updated it is hard to ignore this one. Traffic is important to your site, and information about that traffic can help you understand and mange your site better. Providing better service to your viewers.
There really is way too much to cover here so check out all the information at the links below:
https://www.monsterinsights.com/
http://www.wpbeginner.com/wordpress-plugins/monsterinsights-google-analytics-plugin/
https://en-au.wordpress.org/plugins/google-analytics-for-wordpress/
You might never need a plugin like this but if you do then this will save you a lot of time.
There are times when you need to reorganise your WordPress hosting file layout because you’ve either accidentally put your site in a subdirectory or you have created a new site off to the side somewhere and you are making it live. In both these cases you want to change the directory where your site lives.
The process of changing your site installation directory is well documented elsewhere and is fairly straight-forward. The only really tricky bit is updating the URLs embedded in your pages and posts. It usually shows up as broken links to media which still reference the original directory. That’s where this plugin can shine.
It really is as simple as activating the plugin, entering the original site URL, then entering the new site URL. The plugin quickly applies the appropriate updates and your site is up and running.
After making the change there is no need to keep this plugin installed so you can Deactivate and then Delete it.
This is now used on all my sites and the majority of my client sites. That’s not to say it’s the only game in town, rather, it suits the services I provide. I use it with Amazon S3 in a configuration described in here.
A cache will help your site load quicker, resulting in some Google goodness. Don’t leave performance on the table if you can get some for free.
Not all cache plugins work equally well and may provide different benefits depending on the structure, content, and theme of your site. When deciding on a cache plugin you’ll get better understanding if you make a number of comparisons between cache solutions using a performance reporting site such as Pingdom tools. Pingdom allows you to select the location of the test so pick a centre in a region close to your hosting so as to eliminate unnecessary network issues.
There are are performance analysis sites such as GTmetrics and Google PageSpeed Insights that you might also want to try out.
If your performance report identifies any other issues that aren’t related to caching, then you will gain even more performance if you investigate and resolve those as well.
A cache plugin is just about mandatory for every site but you need to ensure that the plugin works well with your site structure, content and theme. Test the performance of your site over time using a variety of page load testing sites. Swapping your cache plugin for another is usually low risk although you’ll want to do it at a low usage time.
As a result of testing I found that this plugin sometimes outperforms W3 Total Cache which is the other cache plugin I normally include in every site build.
https://en-au.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-fastest-cache/
Your site performance can be tested at Pingdom tools, GTmetrics, and Google PageSpeed Insights
WP Google Maps is useful if you need to show geographic information. It is easy to configure and allows multiple pins to be dropped on the map as well as the creation of polygons which could be used to show a business’s service area.
There are times when you want to show a widget in a particular context such as only on the home page or only on the product page. This widget adds a widget content section to each widget configuration dialogue. Super easy to see and control where your widgets will display.
Yoast is built around knowing about Search Engine Optimisation and this plugin distils that knowledge into an easy to use plugin. Once installed you have control over the SEO elements of each page and post you create making it easy to do the right thing right from the start.
Too much information to detail here so head on over the Yoast and read up on how you can use this fantastic plugin.