The Ultimate Beginners Guide for WordPress

What is the difference between WordPress.com & .org

WordPress is a free, open source solution that helps you create an online presence – either a blog, website, store, or online community. This tool is very powerful and offers a lot of options. There are two different ways to use WordPress. WordPress.com offers a hosted version where you can get started today completely for free; however there will be some limitations like domain name, premium themes and plugins, etc. WordPress.org is the “self-hosted” version meaning that you’ll need to purchase hosting so that the files can live on a server space. Kori recommends Liquid Web*. Here’s a coupon code for 35% off your first 3 months – ASKKORI.

Can I build a WordPress website without knowing code?

Yes! These days there are all sorts of different solutions for building a website without having to know any code like HTML or CSS or PHP (yikes!) It’s done by using what’s called Page Builders. These are drag and drop environments that give you the ability to build out pages and blog articles with ease. Divi Builder is Kori’s favorite and she has plenty of videos to help you learn a lot about the Divi Builder and the Divi Theme from Elegant Themes.

Is WordPress secure?

As an open source solution, WordPress can be the target of hackers. It can be susceptible to robots spamming sites too. You’ll want to be certain to keep your WordPress website up-to-date on it’s Core files, the theme you’re using as well as the plugins that you have active. When you do this it helps keep your website very secure. Add in some premium hosting by Liquid Web and apply an SSL and your site should be good to go! This is a monthly task though unless you have an automated solution in place like Liquid Web offers for auto updates. Kori highly recommends using this type of solutions so you can set it and forget it and know that you’ll be sure to stay secure.

Can I make a blog, or an information website, or even a store using WordPress?

YES! You can make one or all of these in one with WordPress. There are out of the box solutions for bloggers and there’s a simple process to making WordPress be an information site. You can also add in a store plugin called WooCommerce and start selling today! It’s not too difficult to do if you have some patience and want to be a true DIYer. There are plenty of videos that can help you get started from WP101.com as well.

Can I add social media to WordPress?

Easily! And you’ll want to be adding your favorite social networks because not only do your visitors love, but so does Google! They want to see your social signal being active. You can add links to any platform or even bring in your social feeds to display directly on your blog or website. This is Kori’s favorite Instagram plugin and here’s a cool plugin to bring in other social feeds too so that your visitors never leave your site to see all of your activity.

More social media plugins from WordPress
Other tutorials on Social Media Marketing

What are the essentials that I need to build a WordPress site for free?

Starting your project can be as simple as going over to WordPress.com and clicking “Start.” But if you wanted to build out a full website on the self-hosted version of WordPress.org you’ll need a few essentials. These include a domain name like www.askkori.com and hosting which is the server space that holds all of your files online. Kori suggests using Liquid Web for premium WordPress hosting. Other essentials would be adding an SSL for additional security, (LINK TO VIDEO) and a solutions for backups. This can be handled at server level as well, meaning directly through your hosting provider. Or you can add in one of Kori’s favorite plugins called UpDraft Plus.

What is open source?

“Open Source” is a descriptor you hear often when referencing WordPress. It means that the code is open to the public to change, edit, manipulate, and resale. People can contribute to the core code and help create a dynamic Content Management System (CMS) that is flexible and powerful. Open Source also means FREE. 🙂 Free is always in the budget! You can use WordPress as a resource to help you build a blog, an information-based website, an online store and even an online community. It has endless potential when you partner the CMS with your imagination.

Is Open Source safe?

Yes – when it’s cared for. WordPress powers 35% of the internet (as of Jan 2020). Because of this massive reach it can have a tendency to have a target on its virtual back. Hackers create bots to scrub the internet and find out of date WordPress sites to spam and even destroy. If you don’t keep your website’s core files, theme and plugins up-to-date, your WordPress website could be susceptible to harm.

What is a WordPress theme?

WordPress itself is a content management system. Basically it’s the engine under the hood but every car needs a body. That’s what the theme is. It gives the website the look, fonts, colors, layout and style. A theme is required to run WordPress. There are plenty of free WordPress themes and hundreds (potentially thousands) of premium WordPress themes for you to buy a license for. Kori’s favorite premium theme is Divi from Elegant Themes. Kori’s favorite free theme is Zerif Lite.

What is a Child Theme?

When you make significant changes to the PHP files of your WordPress website you’ll want those edits to remain in place even when you update your theme. In order to accomplish this, you’ll want to use a child theme. This video will explain further.

What is a WordPress plugin?

While WordPress themes can offer quite a few features themselves like a blog or a portfolio, you may want to add in a photo gallery or an events calendar. You can do that by adding in a plugin. There are over 55,000 plugins available directly on WordPress.org and they offer endless possibilities. There are free plugins and premium plugins. Here are some of Kori’s favorite WordPress plugins. Here’s a video on best practices for using Plugins.

What is a WordPress widget?

A WordPress widget isn’t just a fun word. It’s a powerful resource for you inside of your WordPress website. It’s a container that holds anything you need and it can appear in endless areas on your website if the theme allows for a widget to live in the space. Spaces like the footer area or the sidebar are quite common. This allows for efficient content management giving you one area to go make an edit / change and it will be reflected across that same widget area on the entire website. WOW! This is going to make your world in WordPress fun and easy. Be certain to learn about the different widget areas in the theme that you’re planning to use.

How do I set up my homepage?

Don’t want a blog displayed on your WordPress homepage? Okay! Let’s fix that. Out of the box WordPress sets your homepage as a blog. But what if you want to have an actual “welcome” or home page with information on it – not just a blog or not a blog at all? There’s a simple fix to setting your WordPress home page up. If you don’t know where to look though this could be quite frustrating. How to set up your Home Page – Watch this video to make it happen! Settings >> Reading >> Your Home Page Displays (assign it)

How do I make my WordPress website look like the demo?

It can be totally frustrating to fall in love with a cool WordPress theme and try to activate it on your own website and it doesn’t look anything like the demo.There’s a simple fix though if your authors were generous with demo content. There’s an import/export upload you can do and this is a video to help you understand how to do that step-by-step.

Don’t lose heart. When you can’t figure it out you can email or post on a support forum directly to the themes’ author – especially if you’ve purchased a license. You can send Kori a question and if she knows the theme or issue, she can make a video for you. You can tweet to the WordPress community or even go over to the support forums on WordPress.org. Asking questions here tend to get answers nearly immediate.

How do you update WordPress?

One of the most critical things you must do for your WordPress website once it’s live. You must update the core files (WordPress itself), the theme and plugins. All of these will require updates sometimes as often as weekly. If you as the website owner log into your WordPress website at least monthly you can keep your website up to date and running securely. This is key to be certain that your website doesn’t break or doesn’t get hacked. So, how do you update WordPress? What do you do if you have a purchased theme with a license? How do you know that the updates won’t break your existing site? Do you need a backup first in case something goes wonky? Yep! Here are several videos to help you even further know what to do step-by-step.

Where do I learn more about WordPress?

Learning WordPress online can be a mixed bag of experiences. You’ll find some good tutorials and a few instructors you connect with, but very quickly people are asking you to pay for content. You’ll ALWAYS find FREE content on https://AskKori.com but if you want even more resources to learn WordPress Kori provides a wonderful list of great resources online and in person options. Find her favorites here https://askkori.com/wordpress-wednesday/learn-wordpress-online-in-person/ or here
https://askkori.com/web-design-tips/where-and-how-to-learn-wordpress/

BONUS: Need to customize WordPress more?

Need to customize something with CSS? Check out this free plugin to help you write CSS changing colors, spacing, fonts, design and so much more. This is a powerful tool that does it all for you!