Build Your Own WordPress Website

Still struggling to finish that WordPress book? Get hands-on training for WordPress here.

The Internet is moving away from a structure of dependency on webmasters. Business owners and organizations want more control over their websites. With the popularity of social media, people are becoming more comfortable with updating their online profiles.

Blogging has quickly become one of the easiest ways for a company to get the word out about something new they’re working on. Entire websites are being converted over to WordPress from outdated software that is buggy and hard to maintain. This has lead to a huge demand for websites that are easy to update.

September 2010

Build Your Own WordPress Website

4 Tuesdays in September – 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th
Each session is from 5pm – 7pm Pacific
Location: Online workshop series

Register Only 4 spots left!
Just Announced! 50% off for BlogHer attendees!
Early bird pricing ends August 10th. Save $40!

NOTE: WordPress 3.0 was released June 17th, 2010 and has been downloaded over 10 million times as of July 24th, 2010

Your Online Classroom

We run our trainings with full video screen share, audio and chat to create an engaging learning environment. At Freshworkshops, you always have a bird’s eye view! Freshworkshops Live Online Training
Adria Richards, technology trainer and consultant, helps business professionals learn essential web technologies through hands-on training.

With over 10 years of experience in website development, training and computer networks, Adria removes the frustration of learning the web. As a frequent attendee and speaker at blogging and social media conferences, she stays on top of what’s new.

Join Adria as she takes you through the planning, installation and set up of your very own WordPress website. Avoid common mistakes and get WordPress setup right the first time.

“I got a lot more out of this training than with most online classes I’ve experienced. Adria doesn’t just guide you through the steps of creating a site, she tells you what the steps mean, so you feel more confident in the skills you take away from the class. She really is about empowering her students, not just setting up their sites for them.”

Marni Ginther, Law firm blogger in Minneapolis

What this means for webmasters and business professionals

In the past, you had to know HTML. You would then use an “editor” and upload your files through an FTP client to a web host, essentially “publishing” your pages. Not only was this time consuming for the webmaster, it delayed news getting to the company website quickly. There were often spelling and grammatical problems because there was no way to proof the code after it was entered until it appeared on the Internet for everyone to see. Everyone knew there had to be a better way.

Over time, people developed website “platforms” which separated the design of a website from the content. These were known as Content Management Systems or a CMS. While they made it faster to publish information, they were often confusing and difficult to learn. Joomla is a great example of a powerful yet hard to learn Content Management System.

Now, there’s a better way. With WordPress 3.0

Say hello to WordPress! Millions of people found out about WordPress because they were looking to read a blog or start blogging. The software evolved over time and WordPress became more than a blogging platform. It now doubles as an excellent, easy to use website platform allowing you to publish information about your services and products within minutes and without the help of a webmaster.

At a recent conference here in San Francisco, Acquia revealed that more than 8% of websites were running WordPress according to their findings. Acquia is a solutions company that offers development, training and support services on the Drupal platform. The tides of empowerment are turning!

You will learn:

Why WordPress website outperform Dreamweaver built sites for SEO
What new features in WordPress 3.0 you need to pay attention to
The difference between WordPress.com vs WordPress.org
How to choose a memorable domain name and save money in the process
The true cost lost business with of a cheap hosting plan
How to download and install WordPress in a hosting environment
How to find, evaluate and install beautiful WordPress themes that people notice!
How to write your first blog post and develop a writing style that makes your blog “sticky”
How to add plugins and manage widgets to supercharge your blog!
Why you should add images to every post and how to get video on your WordPress site
How to sell products or services online
The difference between a blog and a business website built on WordPress
How to manage your new WordPress site for updates, backups and security
Where to go to connect with your new WordPress community
and more!

This is a 101 training for WordPress on the current version 3.0 so you don’t need any previous experience setting up websites or WordPress. This workshop includes the planning, setup, marketing, SEO and content writing but it’s main focus is on the technical aspect of setting up WordPress. You will learn everything you need to setup a site and will have setup a complete site by the end of this workshop. If you are more interested in the techniques to build traffic and qualified leads to your blog, check out the, Essential WordPress Training For Busy Bloggers offered here as well.

You get:

8 hours of direct, live training with an experienced WordPress instructor
Unlimited access during the month via email and phone for all your WordPress questions
Recorded video of the Build Your Own WordPress Website

“This DIY Series was info-packed and detail orientated. Spreading it out over a few weeks helped to not suffer information overload. I enjoyed hearing other people’s questions too, as they brought up questions I had not thought of at the time. While website creation using WordPress is achievable for the novice, I think it would have taken many hours and not have the customized results participating in your workshop provided. I encourage anyone wanting to create their own website to save time and frustration and take this workshop.”

Jacque, JacqueBona.com

Is this right for me?

This training is designed for:

Business professionals looking to setup a website from scratch
People who have to maintain a blog or WordPress site at work
Designers learning to use WordPress

As an added value, you will receive:

Freshworkshops Tutorial – WordPress 101: How The Heck Do You Setup WordPress?
Over 50 links and resources to help you continue your WordPress journey

Upcoming Workshops

September 2010 Online (Sign up)
Planning: November workshop in San Francisco

Sign up to get notified of the next online workshop and training in your city!

Course Outline

(Detailed agenda below)

Session 1 – WordPress Welcomes You To The Neighborhood
Session 2 – Moving Into WordPress
Session 3 – Making WordPress Your Home
Session 4 – WordPress Home Improvement

How Does This Work?

The “Build Your Own WordPress Website” has been offered since April 2009. It’s a month long series that gives you time to learn and digest the information. You work on your own computer so all the files you create are still there for the next session.

Forget about one day bootcamps with 80 people in the room trying to find power outlets. Workshops are kept small (less than 12) to give extra attention to each student. During the month, you attend the sessions, complete assignments and have unlimited access to your instructor via email and phone.

Previous WordPress Training Workshops

June 2010 – Tuesday sessions: 1st, 8th, 15th, 29th from 5pm – 7pm PST
February 2010 – Tuesday sessions: 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd from 6pm – 8pm CST
November 2009 – Tuesday sessions: 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th from 6pm – 8pm CST
September 2009 – Tuesday sessions: 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th from 6pm – 8pm CST
July 2009

Understand essential website strategy and tools:

Why websites are important to business
3 Important parts of a website
What is SEO and why you should care
Your options for building a website
How to select a great memorable domain name
What to look for when selecting a website hosting providers
How to make your website Social Media friendly
How to find and insert photos
How to add videos from YouTube

“She is “techie” to the max. She knows her stuff, but she speaks English and has a certain amount of respect for those she is speaking to. Many techies do not. They overwhelm their audience with tech lingo and do not communicate. Not Adria, she is good at making technical concepts understandable and organizing the material. Do I recommend Adria’s workshops to anyone who is wanting to learn more about technology? Absolutely! I didn’t have a clue about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) or CMS (Content Management Systems) but now I feel quite confident about these subjects.”

Janine, Omsah

Learn WordPress inside and out:

Full tour of the WordPress dashboard
How to add themes to your WordPress Install
How to add plugins to your WordPress Install
Creating your first post
Creating your first page
Widgets and Sidebars
5 Essential plugins to turn WordPress into a Website (CMS)
What to look for when buying a WordPress theme
Discussion of WordPress Security, Backups, Ecommerce, Upgrades

Leave with:

A brand new website you can update yourself
Exclusive access to Adria via email, Skype and Phone for 1 month
Homework after each session for you to complete on your own time
Dozens of tips and tricks about using WordPress
List of Links and resources for WordPress
Better understanding of what websites need to be successful
A sense of relief you don’t have to start from scratch

“While I have worked with a few WordPress installs already, this workshop gave me the opportunity to ask questions and get instant feedback. Adria does a great job of answering questions and showing what is possible.”

Bill, Meet Me Where I Am

Session 1

Register domain names
Signup for website hosting
Why WordPress?
Amazing blogging platform
Easy to maintain website platform
WordPress resources
Questions and Answers for 15 minutes

Session 2

Download and Install WordPress
Download website development tools for WordPress
Login to Cpanel
Cpanel overview
Benefits of installing WordPress yourself vs one click installs
FTP upload of WordPress with Filezilla
Creating a database for WordPress
Installing WordPress themes
Tour of WordPress dashboard
Creating your first post
What is SEO and why you should care
Questions and Answers for 15 minutes

Session 3

Review of Session 2
What’s new in WordPress 3.0
Creating your first page
Adding your first widget on the sidebar
Adding your first plugin
How to get your site indexed in Google for a ton of traffic
Overview – Why you need Google Analytics on your WordPress website
5 Essential plugins to turn WordPress into a Website platform (CMS)
Overview – Email for your WordPress website with Google Apps
Questions and Answers for 15 minutes

Session 4

Review of session 1, 2 and 3
“Check out your new websites!” Round Robin
Extending WordPress with Ecommerce
Tour of Beautiful WordPress Websites and what they’re doing right
How to insert images into your posts
How to insert video from YouTube
How to customize your theme more
WordPress Security, Backups and Upgrades
What To look for when buying WordPress themes
Questions and Answers for 15 minutes

About Your Instructor

Adria Richards has been using WordPress since 2006 and has experience in Content Management Systems (CMS) going back to 2003. She will take you though everything you need to get started with a WordPress self-hosted site. She has attended Wordcamp Chicago, Blogging While Brown, BlogHer09, Blogalicious, Blogworld Expo, spoke at Wordcamp NYC, Wordcamp Atlanta, Wordcamp Boston, SXSW and will be speaking at BlogHer in August and Blogalicious October 2010.

“I got a good foundation from you; enough for me to finish up the site on my own. I couldn’t be more grateful!”

- Desiree, Envielabs

Previous sites attendees have built:

Didn’t Get Everything The First Time?

If you feel that you didn’t get everything the first time around? Take the workshop again for free! Just email Adria and let her know you would like to take it again and you’ll be signed up! Easy as that! More sites people have built:

G William McDonald

I have a Wordpress blog on a soon to be disgarded site. How can I migrate the blog to my new site?
adriarichards

In most cases, yes.

You will export your existing posts and bring them into your new blog.

You an read more about the import/export process at
http://codex.wordpress.org/Importing_Content
Daniel

I am thoroughly enjoying my beginner’s WordPress course with Freshworkshops. Adria has designed a course that is no-nonsense and empowering at the same time! The course teaches you both the WordPress platform itself, and (maybe more important) the workflow required to establish a basic web presence. She seems prepared for any question / situation that techies or newbies could create during the class. Smart, focused, patient, and, well, pretty much un-flappable during a very intense two-hour session, I highly recommend!