I offer two WordPress courses: WordPress for Beginners and Advanced WordPress. Both courses have a limit of three attendees per course and last two hours each. You don't need to take both courses, but the the advanced courses assumes that you're familiar with concepts from the beginners course. All courses are taught over the web using Acrobat Connect Now to share screens and Skype for the audio.
WordPress for Beginners Course
The WordPress for Beginners course is designed for people unfamiliar with WordPress and interested in starting their own blogs, or for people transferring from other blog platforms. Topics covered in the course are listed below:
- WordPress.org versus WordPress.com
- Installing WordPress through cPanel
- Installing WordPress manually
- Writing posts
- Creating pages
- Understanding the admin panel
- Configuring basic settings
- Modifying the sidebar
- Using FTP programs to work with site files
- Working with images
- Changing themes
- Finding the right theme
- Browsing the WordPress plugin repository
- Installing plugins
- Installing the top 10 plugins
- Stopping spam
- Backing up your database
- Implementing a contact form
- Working with the Links functionality
- Tracking hits and visitors
- Importing your site from another site
- Creating categories
- Adding tags
- Configuring the display of pages
- Routing your feed through FeedBurner
- Enabling permalinks and comments
- Navigating the WordPress Codex
- Using the WordPress support forums
- Implementing Password Protection
- Implementing role-based workflow
- Embedding podcasts and videocasts
- Conducting surveys
All course participants will receive a link to a WordPress Quick Start Online Help that contains instructions about each of the topics covered in this course.
Advanced WordPress Course
- Accessing the code
- Recognizing PHP tags
- Configuring page navigation using wp_list_pages
- Understanding the theme files: index, single, archive, comment, functions,
- Calling custom headers
- Calling custom sidebars
- Creating page templates
- Recognizing CSS
- Understanding CSS classes and ID tags
- Modifying the CSS to change the site
- Exporting your content
- Ensuring trackbacks
- 10 advanced plugins
Course Delivery
Each course is delivered over the web and by phone. At the URL I send you, you'll be able to see my screen. I use Skype to call each participate.
Blog Hosting
To set up your self-hosted WordPress blog, you'll eventually need a web host. You don't need a host before the course, but if you want to get a head start, you can do so. Three good hosts are Bluehost, Lunar Pages, and Dream Host. Whatever web host you use, make sure it offers PHP and MySQL, and preferably choose one with cPanel or an equivalent.
Cost
The cost of the course is $99. You can pay with your credit card by clicking the Pay Now button below.
After you pay the course fee, I'll add your name and contact information to the course list. Several days before the course, I'll send you the URL and conference call phone number.
Questions about the course? Contact me at [email protected].