Sara Isenberg Web Consulting & Project Management » WordPress

Getting Started with WordPress – Codex Resources

Sara Isenberg — Thu, 20 May 2010 20:59:46 +0000

Codex has GREAT online information to help you get started with WordPress.

First stop, go to their New to WordPress – Where to Start page at:
http://codex.wordpress.org/New_To_WordPress_-_Where_to_Start

Codex provides this Four Step Plan to help WordPress newbies get started:

Step One – Read
Step Two – Make a Plan
Step Three – Install WordPress
Step Four – Set Up WordPress

Next stop, check out their Getting Started with WordPress page at:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Getting_Started_with_WordPress

Here you’ll find many articles about:

Installation
Installation Troubleshooting and Help
Posting in WordPress
WordPress for Beginners
File and Plugin Management
WordPress Support Forum, which includes FAQ.

Next stop, take a look at their page called: WordPress Lessons at
http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Lessons

Here you’ll find dozens of articles within these sections:

WordPress for Beginners
Designing Your WordPress Site
Template Files
Features and Functions
Website Development

Best of Luck! For more WordPress related resources and information, see other WordPress related blog posts from my blog here: http://saraisenberg.com/category/wordpress/.

From Indexed: Better than a poke in the eye

Sara Isenberg — Thu, 06 May 2010 21:48:13 +0000

How I love indexed! And, it’s a WordPress website, too.

Better than a poke in the eye.

Website Relaunch and Time to start blogging again

Sara Isenberg — Thu, 06 May 2010 21:12:48 +0000

I’m back. I took a four month break from blogging. I didn’t plan it that way but it happened anyway. All said, it wasn’t bad to have one less thing on my list to worry about for a while. During that period, I used my Facebook Page as a quick substitute, and that worked well.

What’s new?

My website has been rebuilt and relaunched. It may look similar to my old website (which — if you want to compare — still lives for now at technicalprojectservices.wordpress.com).

However, underneath the hood, saraisenberg.com is all new and is now based on the Thesis Theme for WordPress.

Why did I do it? I wanted…

my website to live at my new domain, saraisenberg.com, rather than my old domain, http://technicalprojectservices.com (which now redirects to saraisenberg.com).
more control over my SEO, which I’m still working on.
to have a more robust theme. I had heard great things about Thesis.
to move beyond hosting at wordpress.com, which I had outgrown. wordpress.com was great when I was getting started, great for learning wordpress, and FREE! Indeed, I still strongly recommend hosting at wordpress.com for many bloggers, especially newbies who want life/hosting to be as simple & free as possible.

Special Thanks to Melissa Smith, my special consultant and personal guru during this relaunch onto Thesis! Melissa, by the way, works at Equity Marketing Solutions.

URLs for Caffeineighted Presentation

Sara Isenberg — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:42:15 +0000

My recent presentation at the Chamber of Commerce’s Women in Business Caffeineighted Series (November 5, 2009) is all about getting started on WordPress, specifically for the newbie blogger, or the person who wants to switch to WordPress. The actual presentation is a live demo showing how to configure and start using your new blog, here are some related URLs.

Resources

WordPress Support:
http://en.support.wordpress.com/

WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org:
http://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/

Resources for beginners:
http://saraisenberg.com/2009/08/13/wordpress-for-beginners/
http://saraisenberg.com/2008/08/13/wordpress-for-dummies/

How to make a non-post (non-blog-looking) WordPress home page:
http://bloggingexperiment.com/archives/wordpress-page-as-home-page.php

How to Redirect a WordPress.com Blog [PDF]:
http://blog-well.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/how-to-redirect-a-wordpresscom-blog.pdf

Notes from Chris’s September 2009 presentation at NextSpace:
http://saraisenberg.com/2009/09/15/wordpress-resources-from-todays-nextspace-brownbag/

How to have a non-post home page [PDF]:
http://blog-well.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/how-to-redirect-a-wordpresscom-blog.pdf

Examples of some WordPress blogs:

http://bestblog.wordpress.com/ (review)
http://thisisindexed.com/ (humor site)
http://thisisindexed.com/2007/05/calling-in-sick/

Examples of some WordPress websites (as CMS, not blog per se):
http://saraisenberg.com/2009/09/25/30-great-websites-using-wordpress-as-a-cms/
http://wordpress.org/showcase
http://publisherblog.automattic.com/2008/09/16/10-examples-of-wordpress-as-a-cms/

WP Remix:
http://wpremix.com/

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THANKS for attending!

Sara Isenberg Web Consulting & Project Management

email: sara@saraisenberg.com
twitter: @saraisenberg
website: http://www.saraisenberg.com
blog: http://www.saraisenberg.com/blog
linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/saraisenberg
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SaraIsenbergConsulting

Create a Free WordPress Blog in 1 Hour

Sara Isenberg — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:28:50 +0000

The location has been set and this event is a go!

The Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce has a very popular new speaking series for Women in Business called Caffeineighted.

On Nov 5, 7:30-9 AM, I’ll be giving a presentation called Create a Free WordPress Blog in 1 Hour at the Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce, Women in Business, Caffeineighted Series.

[Click here to Register]

Full Details:

Women in Business will host its small-meeting networking series, Caffeineighted, Thursday, November 5, 7:30-9 AM

Location: New Leaf Community Markets
1101 Fair Ave
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

“Create a Free WordPress Blog in 1 Hour”

We continue with Web 2.0 Marketing tools with Sara Isenberg who will show us how to create a blog.

Sara Isenberg, principal consultant at Sara Isenberg Web Consulting & Project Management, has extensive experience in the corporate software industry, much of that as a technical account manager where she managed technical relationships between software engineering teams and strategic partners and clients.

Sara began working as an independent project manager in 2005, serving web producers and small businesses.In addition to working as a web consultant and project manager, Sara is a Technology Advisor with the Silicon Valley Small Business Development Center’s Technology Advisory Program.

Sara has a B.A. in Computer Science from University of California Santa Cruz and a B.S. in Sociology from the University of Oregon. She is listed by We Magazine for Women in “101 Women Bloggers to Watch for 2009″.

For more about Sara:
twitter: @saraisenberg

website: http://www.saraisenberg.com

blog: http://www.saraisenberg.com/blog

linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/saraisenberg

facebook: http://www.facebook.com/saraisenbergconsulting

Limited to 30 participants, the session will also include introductions and conversation. A light breakfast will be served. The cost is $15 for SC Chamber members and $25 for non-members.

Caffeineighted is held the first Thursday of each month. Caffeineighted is an outgrowth of the Chamber’s Women in Business programs, designed to create a more intimate atmosphere and an opportunity for teaching and learning.

New Services: Referrals (Sourcing) and Training

Sara Isenberg — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 03:45:46 +0000

I’m now offering two new services: Referrals to Experts and Training for Beginners

1. Find your Team — Referrals:

I work with known expert designers, developers, marketing professionals, writers, SEO geeks, and more. Let me help you find your team.

2. Training Services:

I offer individual or small group training on using Social Media — such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and blogging — and getting started on WordPress. I can either set up your accounts and make updates and edits while you watch, or help you learn how to do this for yourself. In addition to hands-on technical sessions, we can also discuss best practices and strategies around using Social Media. I can help you get started on Constant Contact Email Marketing. I don’t just fish for you, I teach you how to fish.

WordPress: Get started on WordPress. WordPress for Beginners. Specifically for newbies!
Social Media: Get started on Social Media. All the basics for Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogging, Twitter.
Email Marketing: Create your own professional looking eNewsletters or Marketing emails with Constant Contact Email Marketing.

For more details, see: http://saraisenberg.com/training-and-sourcing/

Please contact me and let me know how I can help you!

Sara Isenberg
Sara Isenberg Web Consulting & Project Management
sara@saraisenberg.com
http://saraisenberg.com
831-334-0701

30 Great Websites using WordPress as a CMS

Sara Isenberg — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 21:39:21 +0000

From time to time I have clients who think WordPress is only for blogging, not for “regular” websites. Yes, WordPress is great for creating a nice looking and easy to maintain blog. However, WordPress is also a great CMS (Content Management System) that can be used to create a regular non-blog-looking website. And, because WordPress is a CMS, the website can be updated easily by people who aren’t web developers.

Here are 30 websites that use WordPress as a CMS:

(Credit to Pro Blog Design)

http://www.problogdesign.com/inspiration/30-great-sites-using-wordpress-as-a-cms/

WordPress WP Remix 3.0

Sara Isenberg — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 00:55:19 +0000

After attending the Santa Cruz WordPress Meetup and crossing paths with Chris Burbridge several times a week, WordPress is a topic that’s been coming up more in the conversation these days. From attending the Nextspace WordPress brown bag lunch, to comparing WordPress vs Joomla vs Drupal, to discussing what makes a quality theme, best practices, I’ve been telling folks about WP Remix, and just wanted to post this link as a resource and reminder:

Learn more about WP Remix 3.0

WP Remix 3.0 is

…the only theme that offers WYSIWYG page template editing. Over 50 page templates to choose from. Web Stanards, Color schemes, Usability, grid, typography…

WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal?

Sara Isenberg — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:16:19 +0000

From time to time, someone will ask me … Which is better: WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal?

The answer is… it depends.

What is the project? How simple or robust? What features?
Who is the developer? What are their skills?
Who will be the site administrator? How friendly does the CMS editor need to be?

According to Bruce Byfield at linux.com:

Consistently, Drupal offered more fine-tuning and tools for managing multiple blogs, while WordPress, although less configurable than Drupal, proved easier to use and navigate.

Here are some resource summaries on this topic of comparing WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal. Voila!

I put this information together yesterday to share with my cousin — he works for a Community Sponsored Radio Station — and then decided to share here, as well. Thanks, Norman, you inspired this post.

WordPress Resources from Today's NextSpace Brown Bag Lunch

Sara Isenberg — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:27:35 +0000

Today’s NextSpace brown bag lunch w/ Chris Burbridge, http://www.realsimplesuccess.com, was about WordPress and it was one of the most well-attended brown bag lunches I’ve seen there.

While it is still fresh in my mind, I’d like to share some recommendations from Chris (and some other recommendations — web hosting, etc., not specifically WordPress — further below — from Chelsey Rostrum, http://www.freemania.net/blog).

From Chris:

Suggested WordPress Plugins

All-in-one SEO pack
Akismet
WordPress.com Stats
pageMash
PhotoDropper
SmartyPants Typographer (more advanced)
TinyMCE Advanced (more advanced)
Twitter Tools (more advanced)

Great WordPress Themes

Good sites: smashingmagazine.com/
10 Outstanding White & Minimal WordPress Themes,www.inspiredm.com/2009/09/11/10-outstanding-white-minimal-wordpress-themes/
www.elegantthemes.com/
diythemes.com/
wpbest.com/
themeforest.net/
www.woothemes.com/
30+ Amazing WordPress Themes, j000-goodstuff.blogspot.com/2009/09/30-amazing-wordpress-themes.html
21 Mindblowing Premium-Like Free WordPress Themes,www.wpbeginner.com/wp-themes/21-mindblowing-premium-like-free-wordpress-themes/

WordPress Learning Tools

wordpress.tv/

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From Chelsey:

http://www.hostgator.com/

http://www.bluehost.com/

http://dreamhost.com/

http://www.mailchimp.com/

http://www.aweber.com/

And, Chelsey says the WordPress Theme called Thesis is Awesome! http://diythemes.com/thesis