Make It Work: Building an Awesome WordPress Website for Your Small Business

How to make your WordPress website awesome from the ground up, without ever touching a theme. Includes lots of plugin recommendations.

Transcript

1. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia MAKE IT WORK! Building an Awesome WordPress Website for Your Small Business Sé Reed @sereedmedia
2. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia about sé Sé Reed Media • Web development & strategy • sereedmedia.com • @sereedmedia
3. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia How do you build an AWESOME business website?
4. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
5. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
6. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia An awesome website EXISTS.
7. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia STEP 1
8. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Installing WordPress
9. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Installing WordPress
10. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia What Type of WordPress?
11. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia What Type of WordPress? •WordPress.com
12. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia What Type of WordPress? •WordPress.com •Managing hosting
13. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia What Type of WordPress? •WordPress.com •Managing hosting •WordPress.org (self-hosted)
14. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia WordPress.com
15. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia WordPress.com •Business tier
16. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia WordPress.com •Business tier •Limited to WordPress themes
17. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia WordPress.com •Business tier •Limited to WordPress themes •Limited extendability
18. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia WordPress.com •Business tier •Limited to WordPress themes •Limited extendability •Includes support
19. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia WordPress.com •Business tier •Limited to WordPress themes •Limited extendability •Includes support •Handles updates
20. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
21. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Managing Hosting
22. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Managing Hosting •Pricey
23. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Managing Hosting •Pricey •Includes support
24. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Managing Hosting •Pricey •Includes support •Handles updates
25. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Managing Hosting •Pricey •Includes support •Handles updates •Optimized for speed
26. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
27. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia WordPress.org
28. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia WordPress.org •Free
29. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia WordPress.org •Free •Self-supported
30. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia WordPress.org •Free •Self-supported •Manual updates
31. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia WordPress.org •Free •Self-supported •Manual updates •Fully extendable
32. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
33. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
34. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
35. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia (Not the hard way)
36. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia QuickInstall (aka “one-click”, 3rd party apps, etc.)
37. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia QuickInstall (aka “one-click”, 3rd party apps, etc.) 1. Do not use Auto-Upgrade
38. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia QuickInstall (aka “one-click”, 3rd party apps, etc.) 1. Do not use Auto-Upgrade 2. Do not use “admin”
39. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia QuickInstall (aka “one-click”, 3rd party apps, etc.) 1. Do not use Auto-Upgrade 2. Do not use “admin” 3. Use strong passwords
40. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
41. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
42. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
43. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
44. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
45. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
46. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
47. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
48. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
49. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia STEP 2
50. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
51. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
52. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
53. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
54. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
55. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
56. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
57. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
58. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
59. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
60. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
61. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
62. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia NEWSFLASH!
63. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia NEWSFLASH!
64. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia NEWSFLASH! Humans are a visual species.
65. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia NEWSFLASH! Humans are a visual species. (We like pretty things)
66. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
67. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Form vs Function
68. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Form = How your site LOOKS
69. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Function = What your site DOES
70. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Theme vs Plugin
71. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Form = THEME
72. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Function = PLUGINS
73. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
74. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia The Tale of Social Media Widget
75. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia STEP 3
76. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
77. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Security • Wordfence Security • Better WP Security • Sucuri WordPress Security • Limit Login Attempts
78. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
79. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Back That &%# Up • WordPress Backup to Dropbox • VaultPress • Backup Buddy
80. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
81. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
82. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia STEP 4
83. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
84. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Make some meat.
85. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
86. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia CONTENT is the ONLY reason people visit websites.
87. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
88. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
89. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia •Home •About •Contact
90. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
91. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia •Products
92. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia •Products •Services
93. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia •Products •Services •FAQ
94. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia •Products •Services •FAQ •Blogs
95. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
96. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
97. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
98. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
99. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
100. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
101. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
102. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
103. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Connect Form • Contact Form 7 • Gravity Forms • Formidable •Ninja Forms
104. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
105. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
106. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
107. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
108. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Comments • Disable Comments • Akismet •Twitter Comments •Jetpack
109. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
110. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
111. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia STEP 5
112. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Widgets
113. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Widgets
114. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
115. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
116. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
117. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
118. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
119. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
120. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
121. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
122. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
123. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
124. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
125. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Just Widgets • Image Widget • BE Subpages Widget • Yelp Widget Pro • Testimonials Widget
126. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
127. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia •Not all widgets are plugins
128. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia •Not all widgets are plugins •Not all plugins have widgets
129. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
130. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia BUT!
131. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
132. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia •Widgets are often in a plugin
133. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia •Widgets are often in a plugin •Plugins often have widgets
134. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia STEP 6
135. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Make It Work
136. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia MOAR PLUGINS!!
137. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia (awesome) MOAR PLUGINS!!
138. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Plugins = What your site DOES
139. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Sooo ... what does an awesome website do?
140. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Welll ... what does your awesome BUSINESS do?
141. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia
142. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia •Sell products?
143. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia •Sell products? •Make products?
144. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia •Sell products? •Make products? •Sell services?
145. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia •Sell products? •Make products? •Sell services? •Provide expertise?
146. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia There’s a plugin for that!
147. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Sell Stuff •WooCommerce •WPCommerce •Shopp •Cart66
148. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Share & Be Shared • Jetpack • Sociable • Simple Social Icons • Social Web Links • Instagrate • DiggDigg
149. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Email Marketing •Mailchimp Widget •Constant Contact WordPress Widget •WP Newsletter •Jetpack (subscribe to posts)
150. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Search Engine Optimzation •WordPress SEO •All-In-One SEO
151. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Extra Credit •Soliloquy •The Events Calendar •FAQ Manager •About.me Widget •Simple Lightbox
152. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Staying Current •PostStat.us •WPdaily.com •chrislema.com •WordPress Repository docs
153. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Theme! Theme! Buy a theme! Install a theme! Theme! Change the theme!
154. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Theme! Theme! Buy a theme! Install a theme! Theme! Change the theme!
155. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Theme! Theme! Buy a theme! Install a theme! Theme! Change the theme!
156. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Ask not what WordPress can do for you ...
157. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia Ask what you can do with WordPress.
158. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia THANKS! Sé Reed @sereedmedia
159. make it work! building an awesome WordPress website for your small business sé reed @sereedmedia MAKE IT WORK! Building an Awesome WordPress Website for Your Small Business Sé Reed @sereedmedia