WordPress Tutorial

This is an in-depth tutorial about WordPress. In this tutorial, we will cover everything about WordPress CMS (Content Management System).

This tutorial gives full information to beginners about WordPress. This guide will help you with everything about WordPress. WordPress is the most popular CMS in the world if you want to learn then you are in the right place. 

After learning WordPress, it will enable you to make your own website. In WordPress, you can create a website, customize it, add any functionality, look, and content. Then you can target your audience. First, you need to learn about the basics of WordPress.

What is WordPress?

It is the name of a popular software called content management system. In more detail, it is an open-source content management system. Now try to understand about open-source and content management system. 

Open-Source

You can modify anything in open-source software. It is free and you can manage it or have full control over it.

Content Management System

It is an application to manage web content, multi-users can use it to publish, edit, share the content. The content of CMS is stored in a database and display in a presentation layer based on the selected theme. 

So without the knowledge of coding, you can create a site and run it, this all is possible due to CMS. you can handle all these things without writing a single line of code. 

Why WordPress is so Popular?

WordPress was famous from day one when it was launched and its popularity is increasing day by day. 40% of websites on the internet using WordPress as CMS. 

The idea of Worpress came when good blogging software was needed. In 2003, very popular blogging software was available called, b2/cafelog. Due to some reason this project was discontinued. Two persons from this project, Mike Little and Matt Mullenweg decided to build a new platform based on b2/cafelog. They introduced WordPress on 27 May 2003 as a content management system. WordPress is far better than b2/cafelog because many new features are added to it, and this new platform was warmly accepted in the community. In 2005 a new version 1.5 was launched with newly added features such as Theme system, comments moderation, and pages.

WordPress.org vs WordPress.com

You will find two websites about WordPress on the internet and many people confuse wordpress.com with wordpress.org. These websites are similar to some extent, they both enable you to use the WordPress platform. They both are entirely different when a study in detail. 

WordPress.org

It is a free CMS software, you can install on your hosting server. You can use it for a self-hosted server. 

WordPress.com

It is a hosted site, offers a free trial version. You can upgrade to a premium version with a custom domain. 

If you want to start a self-hosted site then you will purchase a hosting plan from a well-known company, I will recommend BlueHost. You will have full control of your self-hosted site and you make any type of changes to it, there are a lot of themes available, you can use any theme to render to content in any design. 

Hosted sites have pre-setting and you can’t make big changes to it. You can’t have full control of your site. Here, users are bound to the rules of the company. You will get all the solutions in one place.

Setting and Managing a WordPress site

I will guide you on how to create a self-hosted website.  This process is a little more complex than a hosted-site solution. There are more benefits of self-hosted websites like customization, monetization, and SEO. 

Installing WordPress

If you decided to go for a self-hosted site than choose the best company from where you buy hosting web service. I will recommend you BlueHost because their plans are economical with a money-back guarantee and they offer a free domain. This is the first step to be the owner of your first site. 

Open the Bluehost home page then click on Get-Started. There are different plans available, you will get a one-click installer on BlueHost page. After log-in you can get access to all the features.  

Installing WordPress is a very easy process. There are following steps you have to follow;

• Log in to your Bluehost account.
• Go to the website section, then click on “Install WordPress”.
• Click the button (Install).
• Choose a domain name.
• You can also go for advanced changes.
• Read the rules and agreements then check the box option.
• Click the install now button.

When the installation is completed then you can go the WordPress dashboard. 

WordPress Dashboard

When you first log in to the WordPress dashboard, you will see a welcome message. All the tools are available on the WordPress dashboard that will help you in creating your own website. If you want to excel WordPress then you have to understand the functionality of WordPress. 

There are three main parts of the WordPress dashboard.

Left-side Menu

All the admin options are available in this section.

Top Toolbar

You can preview your site from this area.

Middle Section

You can manage the setting and content of your site from here. 

Dashboard

It gives you quick access to your site content, five widgets are available by default.

Welcome

The first thing you will notice on top of the screen. You will find options using frequently by an admin to set up a new website.

 At a Glance

This portion gives you information about posts, pages, and comments on the site.

Activity

You will see your recent posts, new comments, or scheduled posts.

Quick Draft

This widget will help you to publish your post quickly.

WordPress Event and News

This widget will tell you about updates, events, and news about WordPress. You will get known about local WordCamps and meetups.

Posts

This is an admin option to manage the content of your site.you can edit old content and add new content.here you can access the following option.

All Posts

When you click on all posts then you can view all posts, you can manage or edit your multiple posts here.

Add New

By clicking this tab you can add new posts to your site or blog.

Categories

You can create posts under different categories, you can view your categories from here.

Tags

Tags help you in SEO of your posts, it is a specific keyword assigned to your posts. You can add or delete tags by using this option.

Media

You can manage your media files from this option. More making your content more engaging, you can add videos, audios, or images. All your media files are stored in this section. You can edit, crop, or manage your media files from this section. 

Comments

When the post getting views then people start giving reactions in the comment section. Here your audience directly interacts with you through the comment section. Sometimes the comments giving your readers are inappropriate, then you can edit or delete it.

Appearance

This is the admin option, where you can manage or change the look of your site. You can customize your site, installing new themes, edit the existing theme, or change the background’s color. In this section, you can access the following things;

Themes

You can access already installed themes or can install new themes.

Customize

You can customize your theme. You can set the background color, font size, and color.

Widget

You can add widgets or delete old widgets, change the location of the widget. 

Menus

Manage your menus.

Background

Change the background’s color as well as put an image as background. 

Theme Editor

You can edit the code of the theme in order to optimize the functionality of the site. 

Plugins

It is like a mini web app, it adds more functionality to your site.there are millions of plugins available online. It depends on you which functionality you want to add. Yoast SEO is also a plugin, it helps you in the optimization of your site. 

When clicking on Plugins, it opens a menu as given below;

Installed Plugins

Here you will see already installed plugins, you can activate or deactivate or fully delete plugins. 

Add New

If you want to add a new plugin then click here, you can search many plugins in the WordPress repository or upload a zip file.

Plugin Editor

This option is for advanced users, who have skills in coding. Here you can edit the coding of the plugin. 

Users

This section lets you control the permissions of existing users. You can add or delete your users.

There are different types of users in WordPress as given below;

Administrative

This type of user is considered the owner of the site, he is allowed to do anything to the site.

Editor

He or she can edit the content of your site including posts, pages, comments, etc.

Author

It has the role to edit or publish posts.

Contributor

He or she can edit or write posts but can’t publish the posts.

Subscriber

There are visitors to the site, they can read your posts and write comments. 

Tools

It enables you to do some additional things to the site. There are some options under tools;

Available Tools

All the tools on your WordPress site are available here.

Import Tools

You can use data from other platforms. If your site is on other platform then it helps you to migrate the site to WordPress.

Export Tools

This tool makes a backup of your site content and helps you in the export of your content on other fresh installation of WordPress.  

Site Health Status

This tool gives you critical information about the health of your site. So it requires your attention to solve these issues. These issues include inactive plugins and themes, versions of PHP, and its modules. 

Export Personal Data

This tool saves users data and sends them back if users ask for their personal data. 

Erase Personal Data

This tool helps you to remove user personal data. 

Setting

You can set up various options for your website. You can do set in the following categories;

General

Name, description, time zone, administrative email, and date format are set here. 

Writing

You can set the default setting for your content. 

Reading

Set the homepage of your site, how your posts will appear on the site.

Discussion

You can manage your comment section.

Media

You can change the size of the images.

Permalinks

It helps you to change the structure of the URL. it has a significant role in the optimization of your site. 

Privacy

This page is important to ensure that you follow national and international laws.

WordPress Theme

It is a combination of code and media. The look of the site depends on the WordPress theme. It can also change the functionality of your site. There are millions of themes available online. So it is a very hard decision to choose the best one. 

There free and premium themes available. The free themes are not regularly updated so it will show some issues while premium themes are regularly updated. 

When searching for themes then you can apply the filter as well. You can browse any categories such as most trending, best sellers, top-rated and newest themes. The directory of the theme allows you to directly preview the theme live. It will help to decide which theme suitable for you. There are some points you have to keep in mind while choosing a theme. 

• First, keep in mind what features are important for your website.
• The theme should be mobile friendly.
• It is using one of the standard fonts.
• Check the recommended plugins for the theme.

There are three ways to install a theme on your site. 

1. Install directly from the WordPress dashboard.
2. You can buy a theme from a third party, upload it via the WordPress dashboard, and then install it.
3. Install and upload the theme through FTP.

Plugins

As said earlier it is a mini-app that extends the functionality of the site. It enhances the experience of users. It gives access to the insight of your site. 

It is also crucial to choose the right and best plugin for the site. The burden of plugins will slow down the speed of the site as well as badly affect the experience of users.

Before going to purchase a plugin you should know what functionality you need on the site.  If you have purchase a premium theme that it will automatically download their required plugins. There are two ways to install a plugin.

WordPress Plugin Search

It is the easiest way to install a theme. Follow the steps given below;

• Click on Plugin
• Click on Add New
• Type the name of the plugin in the search bar.
•  Click the Install Now button.
• Click on activate it

 Manually Install Plugin

If you want to purchase a premium plugin from a third party, then you will get a zip file. You install a plugin manually, you need to follow the following steps.

• Click plugin
• Click the upload button, located on the top of the screen.
• Select a zip file located at local storage.
• Click the Install Now button.
• Click the activate the button.

Adding Content to the Site

There is two portions of the content, posts, and pages. Pages are static content such as about us, contact pages. Posts are updated on a daily basis. It is simple step to add content to your site.

If you want to add a new page to your site, then follow the steps;

• Log in to the dashboard of the WordPress site as an administrator.
• Click on the page then go to Add New.
• The editor will be opened, add title and content to it.
• Click on the publish button and the page will go live.

Add posts to your site, follow the following steps;

• Log in WordPress dashboard.
• Click on Posts then go to Add New.
• The editor is opened, add title and content to it.
• Click on publish and the content will live.

This is a small guide for beginners who want to learn about the basics of WordPress. 

If you want to learn about SEO of your WordPress website then click here.