WORDPRESS & THE ART OF BLOGGING

@melissarachlove

DESIGNING YouINTO YOUR

BUSINESS

GETTING STARTED WITH WORDPRESS BASIC FEATURES

THEMES THAT WORK FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS !!

STRATEGIC BLOGGING PLANNING ENGAGING CONTENT

SLICK SOCIAL NETWORKING !!

RESOURCES I RECOMMEND

WEBSITE & BLOG OPTIONS

flash template

site

cheap

hand-coded html / flash

site

dear

flash / html5 hybrid

systems

wordpress site

little or no flexibility

unlikely to have mobile

capability

easy to set up

good SEO performance

complete design

flexibility

may be mobile-ready

best SEO performance

easy to update but has design

limitations

no coding required

no coding required

some coding required

mobile-ready

good SEO performance

difficult to update but completely

custom

mobile-ready

coding required

WORDPRESS.COM VS WORDPRESS.ORG

BUT WHAT ABOUT: !BLOGGER, SQUARESPACE, FORMAT, WIX, MOONFRUIT? !

BLOGSITE VS WEBSITE

WHERE DOES WORDPRESS LIVE?

YOUR DOMAIN YOUR WEBSITE FILES

NEEDS TO BE REGISTERED NEEDS TO BE HOSTED FOR

SERVICES LIKE EMAIL !

1. CAN BE ‘POINTED’ TO WHERE YOUR FILES LIVE (USING DNS)

!2. CAN BE ‘HOSTED’ IN THE SAME

PLACE AS YOUR WEBSITE FILES !

NEED TO HAVE SPACE TO LIVE !

NEED TO BE ACCESSIBLE THROUGH VIA FTP !

MANY HOSTING PACKAGES INCLUDE EMAIL SERVICES

CHOOSING HOSTING

Look for a one-click install option

CHOOSING HOSTING

Look for a one-click install option !Can you call them? !Can they grow with your business? eg. sub domains, SSL certificates !

THE ONE CLICK INSTALL - decide where to put it !

THE ONE CLICK INSTALL - create your login details !

BASIC WORDPRESS SET-UP !The Dashboard !!!

BASIC WORDPRESS SET-UP !Screen Options !!!

BASIC WORDPRESS SET-UP !General Settings - basic security !Permalink structure - month & name - post name !Blogsite vs website - where will your blog posts appear? !!!

BASIC WORDPRESS SET-UP !Blogsite vs website - where will your blog posts appear?

STATIC FRAME OR RESPONSIVE? !

!How does your site perform on mobile & tablets? !Mobile usage to exceed desktop by the end of 2014 10% of all traffic will be greater than 10%

!

BASIC WORDPRESS APPEARANCE - Twenty Fourteen

BASIC WORDPRESS APPEARANCE - Twenty Fourteen

CHOOSING A THEME OR FRAMEWORK !Genesis Pagelines !Elegant Themes Woo Themes ProPhoto !Proofing Plugins !!!!

CUSTOMISING A THEME !Plan around your chosen theme !- Download the resource kit - Take a screenshot - Photoshop - Pixus

CUSTOMISING A THEME WITH THE THEME OPTIONS PANEL

MASTHEAD

LOGO

BIO 1 BIO 2 BIO 3

BUTTON

BUTTON

BUTTON

CUSTOMISING A THEME WITH CSSThe theme files (stylesheet) !

CUSTOMISING A THEME WITH CSSThe theme files (stylesheet) !

CUSTOMISING A THEME WITH CSS USING FIREBUG

!!!#content .article-title { font-family: Cantarell,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: 2px; margin-bottom: 20px; text-transform: uppercase; }

BREATHE!

WEBSITE STRATEGY

GETTING FOUND ONLINE !- THE BASICS - BUILDING TRUST - KEEPING THEM INTERESTED - FORWARD PLANNING - RE-USE & RE-SHARE - SOCIAL MEDIA !!

WHAT DOES GOOGLE WANT? !To do a really good job serving up results Cannot be fooled Old habits die hard Fair but firm !WHERE DOES GOOGLE + COME IN? Authorship + affinity !WHERE DO SOCIAL NETWORKS COME IN? Google is listening even if it’s not indexing Peer-reviewed results make content crucial

WHAT DOES GOOGLE SEE? !Content (is king) Keywords Site Structure Ease of navigation - internal links Image names & tags

SEO TOOL, TIPS & TRICKS

1. Make sure you know your true ranking !2. Don’t spend hours on promoting a standalone website !3. Understand how Google sees you.

HOW GOOGLE SEES YOU

HOW GOOGLE SEES YOU

ALL IN ONE SEO PACK

BUILDING TRUST

MICHELLE STANDERFER

EDITORIAL CALENDAR

What’s in it for them? Are you in the picture?

Regular features Seasonal Calendar

PLANNING TO SUCCEED

EDITORIAL CALENDAR

Your key sales goals Showcase your work without boring them Use post excerpts Choose your highlights Give them the option to view more but don’t make them

POST ENGAGEMENT

Rock ’n Roll Bride

SOCIAL MEDIA

Easy to share !Easy to pin !Take the time to post it properly

WORDPRESS, SEO & THE ART OF BLOGGING

Be realistic about the time it takes to make progress and the time you have to put into it.

KEY PLUGINS

All-in-One SEO Editorial Calendar

Akismet

ONLINE RESOURCESwww.elegantthemes.com

www.prophoto.com www.lcn.com

www.facebook.com/melissalovedesign www.twitter.com/melissarachlove

www.melissalove.co.uk blog.melissalove.co.uk

FRIEND ME UP

www.prophotoblogs.com!blog or complete portfolio website | HTML & mobile ready

www.thedesignspace.co