WordPress.com: Getting started with your project's website

In Octobre 2016, Hugh, Gareth, Rynaldo, Rob, Mark and I (all working at Automattic) went to GROW! leadership academy to teach how to set up a WordPress.com website to support the projects that the students had been working on.

We talked about:
- Upgrading
- Choosing domains
- Creating websites and adding others
- Creating content
- Improving design
- Connecting on social media

Transcript

1. WordPress.com
2. “ ” AUTHOR Title Text We’ll focus on: Plans Blog Posts Pages Themes / Customisation Menus Sharing People Domains
3. • Part 1: Plans & Domains • Part 2: People • Part 3: Posts & Pages • Part 4: Themes, Customisation & Menus • Part 5: Sharing Outline
4. PART 1 Plans & Domains
5. • Go to: Your website > My Sites > Plan • Select Premium > Upgrade • Select Have a coupon code? • Enter coupon code Plans
6. What would be a good domain? • YES: Easy to type | Short | Keywords | Area • NO: Numbers | Symbols • Find something memorable • TLD: .com | .org | .net?
 (top level domain) Brainstorm 10 mins about a good name Domains
7. • Go to: My Sites > Domains • Select Claim Free Domain • Enter a domain • If available, Select • If not, try different TLD • If still not, try a variation Domains
8. • Select No thanks, I don't need email or will use another provider. • Enter details • Select Continue to Checkout • Select Complete Checkout Domains
9. PART 2 People
10. Roles Role Rights Viewer Read Contributor Write, not publish Author Write, publish and edit own posts Editor Write, publish edit all content Administrator Everything
11. • Go to: My Sites > People > Add • Find out the usernames or email addresses • Type username/email address • Hit Enter or , • Choose Role: Administrator • Type Custom Message • Select Send Invitations ! Add people "
12. PART 3 Posts & Pages
13. • What are posts? And pages? • When would you use posts? And pages? • Discuss in groups • 10 mins • You can use Google Posts & Pages
14. • Pages: static content (doesn’t change often) - About - Home - Contact - Collection of posts • Posts: dynamic content - News - Notices - Updates Posts & Pages
15. • Go to: My Sites > Pages > Add • Select Featured Image • Select Set Featured Image • Drag image in pop-up • Select Set Featured Image Pages
16. Pages • Give Title • Select HTML • Copy text from Word document • Go back to: Visual • Style to make it look good • Select Publish
17. PART 4 Themes, Customisation & Menus
18. • Go to: My Sites > Themes • Choose All > Free • Add search terms • Alternatively, go to
 wordpress.com/themes • Search • Select Demo Themes
19. “ ” AUTHOR Title Text
20. • How to get help? • Click on the theme image • Read the documentation • For example:
 wordpress.com/themes/affinity Themes
21. When you’ve found one, select Activate Themes
22. • Open theme info page (as back) • Go to: My Sites > Themes > Customize Customisations
23. “ ” AUTHOR Title Text
24. “ ” AUTHOR Title Text
25. • Change title, tagline, logo • Change colours, background • Set up static front page • Set up blog page • Add widgets • (wait a bit with menus) Have fun!
26. • Go to: My Sites > Customize • Select Menus > Add a Menu • Add Pages / Links / etc. • Don’t forget Menu Locations Menus
27. PART 5 Sharing
28. • Connections:
 Automatically publish posts on social media • Sharing buttons:
 Let others share your content Sharing